Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett, listed among the world’s most wealthy people, have once evaded tax payments, according to ProPublica which claims to have seen their tax returns.
According to the website, Bezos has paid nothing in years 2007 and 2011. The same thing was done by Musk of Tesla in 2018.
The leak can be considered “illegal”, said a White House spokesperson.
The revelation of the website was subjected to a probe by the FBI and tax authorities.
The website insisted that they are examining what it dubbed as a “vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data” on rich people’s taxes and more information will be disclosed in the upcoming weeks.
The suspected leaks surfaced in a period when the amount of tax paid by the billionaires were under discussion.
According to the website, the 25 wealthiest Americans shelled out less money for tax as compared to the most conventional workers in the US. On average, the adjusted gross income hit 15.8 percent.
ProPublica said that “using perfectly legal tax strategies, many of the uber-rich are able to shrink their federal tax bills to nothing or close to it” despite that they accumulated wealth over the years.
The billionaires managed to cut down their income tax bills through charitable activities, like several mainstream citizens. They also get their money from investment funds instead of wage income.
Through the data provided by Forbes magazine, the website claimed that the 25 wealthiest Americans’ riches from 2014 to 2018 has increased by $401bn in total. During those years, they have paid only $13.6bn in income tax.
The increase on taxing the richest Americans was promised by President Joe Biden in line with his push to boost equality and gain funds for his huge infrastructure investment undertaking.
