How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax
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The timing of the leak is amazing, it would be a fantastic coincidence if it isn’t politically motivated. I’m not making any infererences as to who did it.
If our laws allow ProPublica to publish it and on a slow drip our laws should be equally aggressive in protecting the victims of the crime.
We spent the last four years making such a big deal about “process” crimes. This one is much more significant.
https://www.rollcall.com/2021/06/08/wyden-renews-wealth-tax-push-after-billionaires-returns-leak/
The timing of the leak is amazing, it would be a fantastic coincidence
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Federal authorities are investigating the release of wealthy Americans’ tax information, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig said Tuesday.
ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization, published details about the reported income and tax payments of some of the richest Americans, including Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. CEO Warren Buffett.
Taxpayer information is confidential, and there are potential criminal penalties for IRS employees or others who release such information. Mr. Rettig told lawmakers that there were internal and external investigations beginning, with potential prosecutions to follow.
“I share the concerns of every American for the sensitive and private nature and confidential nature of the information the IRS receives,” he said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing that had been scheduled before the information was released. “Trust and confidence in the Internal Revenue Service is sort of the bedrock of asking people and requiring people to provide financial information.”
The ProPublica article said the news organization didn’t know the identity of its source and described the information it received as IRS data on thousands of people covering more than 15 years. It isn’t certain that the information—a highly unusual airing of private tax data—came directly from within the IRS or whether the agency was hacked in some way. The article highlighted years in which Mr. Bezos and others paid little or no federal income tax.
“The unauthorized disclosure of confidential government information is illegal,” said Lily Adams, a Treasury Department spokeswoman. She said that the matter has been referred to the Treasury’s inspector general, the IRS inspector general, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and federal prosecutors in Washington.
Remind me, was there an investigation into who leaked Trumps tax records?
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When does Bezos finally turn on Democrats?
The Brad
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When does Bezos finally turn on Democrats?
@lufins-dad said in How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax:
When does Bezos finally turn on Democrats?
Maybe if he dressed up in sexy underwear?
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When does Bezos finally turn on Democrats?
@lufins-dad said in How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax:
When does Bezos finally turn on Democrats?
He is long past the awareness that it is more pragmatic for his business interests to join them rather than try to beat them.
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Megan McArdle
@asymmetricinfoI thought the ProPublica analysis of billionaire taxes was going to be exciting. Instead, it told me things I already knew: that the US tax code offers deductions for charitable donations, loan interest, and business operating expenses, and only taxes capital gains when you sell.
The most exciting thing is wondering who gave them the information, and how long that person will spend in jail when they're caught, as I suspect they will be.
This isn't a case where you could have gotten one person's partial records from an accountant or a disgruntled ex-spouse. Practically speaking, unless all the billionaires have the same tax attorney, I suspect the only place the data could have come from is the IRS itself.
If so, I see two possibilities:
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The IRS was hacked, which would be a huge scandal, and make you wonder just how many tax returns the hackers have.
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Employee, which would make you wonder just how bad IRS IT security is, and how good the employee was at covering their tracks
@george-k said in How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax:
I thought the ProPublica analysis of billionaire taxes was going to be exciting. Instead, it told me things I already knew: that the US tax code offers deductions for charitable donations, loan interest, and business operating expenses, and only taxes capital gains when you sell.
This above.
I am pretty sure that everyone on this forum board uses as much as possible the tax laws to their advantage. It is not any surprise that rich people do it also.
Putting on my Ax hat - if people dont like what the report showed, then change the laws. LOL
(and yes, the person or people who did this should be punished)
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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/12/business/private-equity-taxes.html
@89th, the article linked above hits truer at the title of your thread. This one is about the “carry interest” privileges enjoyed by the investment bankers, the abuse of that privilege, and the almost nonexistent IRS auditing of private equity firms despite explicit whistle blower complain against them for this sort of abuses.
