Excellent headline from ProPublica:
Ten Ways Billionaires Avoid Taxes on an Epic Scale
It is a summary of 10 articles they published a year ago. Here is my summary of the summary!
- They avoid income as that has the highest tax rate. Instead they sell stock (capital gains tax in the US is half that of the income of workers), and borrow against stock at record low interest rates. Ultra-high-worth people on average increase their wealth at 5% or more per year, so borrowing at 1% makes sense.
- “Tech mogul Peter Thiel amassed a $5 billion Roth IRA, a type of account that shields income from taxes and is intended to help low- and middle-class savers prepare for retirement.”
- Somehow twisting short-term trades into long-term investments for lower tax rates.
- Buy a sports team – massive tax deductions (and you own a sports team)
- Oil and gas industries, bizarrely, get major tax breaks
- It is kinda obvious but you lose money racing horses. Tax deduction from the sport of kings!
- Trump – voted in by desperately poor blue collar white males – gave the filthy rich massive tax cuts.
- Tech billionaires, being tech smart, combine a lot of the above.
- 18 billionaires, because they had one of their “no tax” years, received COVID stimulus checks.
- Half of America’s richest people employ techniques that circumvent estate tax
I can add one to the above… A certain “billionaire” who sends out begging emails numerous times every day. He hasn’t announced a re-election run yet, so the money is his to use as he wishes.