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Be better if he just paid taxes.
by kevmo 3y ago
Be better if he just paid taxes.
- boeingUH60 3y ago> Bezos’s annual reported income during these years of $832 million put him only at number 15. He paid an effective tax rate of 23.2%; as we’ve previously reported, Bezos had so little income in a couple of recent years that he was able to pay $0 in federal income taxes in those periods. https://www.propublica.org/article/americas-top-15-earners-and-what-they-reveal-about-the-us-tax-system https://www.propublica.org/article/americas-top-15-earners-a...
- JimtheCoder 3y agoI always like how good old Warren Buffett is calling for high earners to be taxed more, yet he never seems to show up on any of these high earner lists...
- lotsofpulp 3y agoHow is that inconsistent?
- JimtheCoder 3y agoBecause the narrative being developed around him is that he is such a selfless guy, humble midwestern values, wants good for America, yet he structures his affairs in a way that he pays as little tax as possible and would be largely unaffected by increased income tax...
- lotsofpulp 3y agoFrom my understanding, his income would be from capital gains, and he does advocate for increasing capital gains tax rates.
- OtherShrezzing 3y agoHe doesn't tend to show up in the lists because he pays himself relatively little (compared to other billionaires). Between 2014-18 he had income of $125m, and paid tax of $23.7m[1]. That's still lower than the average American absolute tax rate, but way higher than most other billionaires. So he's a bit less of a sensational headline than his contemporaries. His wealth growth of $24.3bn is untaxed through those years, he presumably left those assets in Berkshire Hathaway where he'd personally not generate a tax bill for them. Eventually Buffet, or more likely his inheritors, will sell the Berkshire Hathaway assets, and should pay a monumental tax bill on them. [1] https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trov...
- istjohn 3y agoWhy would they ever sell anything when they can just use them as collateral for loans and avoid ever paying taxes.
- colechristensen 3y ago>as we’ve previously reported, Bezos had so little income in a couple of recent years that he was able to pay $0 in federal income taxes in those periods. This is the part people are bothered by. Regardless of why, billionaires should never be paying $0 in federal income taxes. Our tax code and the people finding loopholes in it should not do this. Executives should not be able to be "unpaid" for years because they're getting tax advantaged stock deals. Nobody should be able to have that much wealth and have a year with no taxes. If you are the human at the end of the line of ownership that ultimately benefits from assets, you should be charged ordinary income as you extract from those assets. The only people who should owe $0 in federal taxes are those earning less than a full time minimum wage salary during that tax year, with no exceptions for folks who magically seem to find millions of dollars to spend during a year that they "earned" $0.
- pfannkuchen 3y ago> paying $0 in federal income taxes > a year with no taxes These are two very different things, and the former does not imply the latter.
- voisin 3y agoBut then it wouldn’t be discretionary and make headlines. Won’t someone think of the billionaires’ egos?!
- megaman821 3y agoWhat are the unpaid taxes he owes? Tax evasion is a felony, go turn him and collect your reward.
- factorialboy 3y agoTax avoidance is not a crime. Evasion is. All these billionaires know how to skirt the rules.
- oh_sigh 3y agoHave you ever taken a tax deduction? Why are you avoiding taxes if so?
- megaman821 3y agoThey aren't skirting anything. If you want to get rid of charitable deductions then advocate for that. People are attacking billionaires because the have unpalatable policy positions.
- londons_explore 3y agoAll the billionaires pay lots of money to advisers who will arrange their finances for them. I bet most billionaires couldn't even name half the companies they control, because they're all shell companies for shuffling funds overseas.
- squeaky-clean 3y agoIf they're skirting the rules, that's just called following the rules. Why should we expect billionaires to file their taxes suboptimally? The rules are what need changing.
- spencerflem 3y agoYes- that's why people in the comments keep griping about how little tax he has to pay
- 3y ago
- nullecksor 3y agoWhat is with this 'help me, but not like this' attitude? Of all taxes paid, where will the government allocated funds go? Its not like the government is running out of money to not fund this.
- princevegeta89 3y agoTaxes -> Uncle Sam -> Some Politician Pockets -> Dumbass projects, pointless initiatives [sometimes fueled by lobbying] -> Maybe some of it finally towards underprivileged communities with a 25% chance? Donating directly to the communities removes all this mess and gets money where it needs to go.
- gizmodo59 3y agoWe all want to do it that way then.. I will choose my own ways to spend the tax dollars as I see fit? Too bad we don’t live in such a society
- bee_rider 3y agoIt would be quite interesting to see what got funded, if they let us pick projects to fund while doing our taxes. It might even be a worthwhile experiment to do; let tax payers decide how to allocate, say, 10% of their taxes.
- SantalBlush 3y agoWhile graft certainly exists to at least some degree, the conclusion still doesn't follow from the premise.
- dgb23 3y agoI’m a huge fan of long lasting infrastructure like schools, internet, green energy, public transport etc. this stuff always pays off for future generations.
- throwawayqqq11 3y agoI guess your ridiculous caricature of government spending is a product of a failing educational system. This is also one of the problems, that will never be fixed aslong as taxes are kind of negotiable for ones above the citizenship/law and people get distracted by this kind of altruist-washing (which can also be a way to dodge taxes). > Taxes -> Uncle Sam -> Some Politician Pockets -> Dumbass projects. The issue you highlight is not taxes per se but the political sphere, which can be solved seperately. Rejecting taxes and not acknowledging the root problem _makes you part of the problem_ and useful for the ones profiting from it. OT: Its ridiculous, that ppl _who voted for 1 of 2 corrupt parties complain about their stolen votes_. This kind of idiocy could also be a useful product of a failed educational systems maybe combined with Murrica-first delusions.
- X6S1x6Okd1st 3y agoYes, but we need to change the rules to get that. IMO a wealth tax would be difficult to avoid.
- LOLTITTIES 3y agoIn the (great) scenario that Bezos spends his money to do good, he likely spends his dollars more efficiently than the government does.
- kthejoker2 3y ago"His" doing a lot of lifting in this comment. And I strongly disagree with the premise we should let our capitalist and genetic lottery winners solely determine what problems society needs solving.
- lol23456 3y ago[flagged]
- CrzyLngPwd 3y agoMeh, it would just go to the military. At least this way he gets to feel good about it.