Tag: richest Americans not paying their fair share

New report reignites push for wealth tax

The Hill logo

A blockbuster ProPublica report on the taxes paid by the richest Americans is reigniting a push from progressives for a wealth tax.

The report, based on tax-return data ProPublica received from an anonymous source, details how prominent billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have paid little to no taxes in some recent years, particularly when compared to their wealth gains.

The article comes as President Biden has proposed raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations to pay for his major spending proposals. Democrats have increasingly made raising taxes on the rich a top priority in recent years, and some progressives have called for going even further than Biden’s proposals by establishing a wealth tax that would impose taxes on net worth rather than income. Continue reading.

Wyden renews wealth tax push after billionaires’ returns leak

Roll Call Logo

Members of both parties express concern over unauthorized disclosure to ProPublica; IRS chief says agency is investigating

The top Senate tax writers expressed concern Tuesday about the unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information in a ProPublica report examining more than 15 years’ worth of tax returns for the country’s wealthiest individuals, but they drew different conclusions about how the disclosure should influence their legislative efforts.

Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the report’s findings that America’s wealthiest billionaires paid little in income taxes underscored the need for legislation that would require them to pay their “fair share.”

But Finance ranking member Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho, focused more on the leak of the tax returns, saying it adds to his concerns that the administration’s proposal to require banks to report more taxpayer financial information to the IRS could compromise Americans’ privacy. Continue reading.

New Study Reveals Massive Tax Evasion By Wealthiest Americans

National Memo logo

A new study has found that the wealthiest one percent of Americans are dodging payment of taxes at a much higher rate than prior research had revealed.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the study, conducted by a team of Internal Revenue Service and academic researchers and economists for a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that the richest one percent of households fail to disclose to the IRS a full 21 percent of their income.

The researchers concluded that the amount of unreported income for the top 0.1% might be as much as twice as high as earlier research had indicated. Continue reading.