'Absurd!': US Billionaires Pay Lower Tax Rate Than Working Class for First Time

[diva77]

"It's time to tax the billionaires," economist Gabriel Zucman argues in a new analysis.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/tax-the-billionaires

An analysis published Friday by the renowned economist Gabriel Zucman shows that in 2018, U.S. billionaires paid a lower effective tax rate than working-class Americans for the first time in the nation's history, a data point that sparked a new flurry of calls for bold levies on the ultra-rich.

Published in The New York Times with the headline "It's Time to Tax the Billionaires," Zucman's analysis notes that billionaires pay so little in taxes relative to their vast fortunes because they "live off their wealth"—mostly in the form of stock holdings—rather than wages and salaries.

Stock gains aren't currently taxed in the U.S. until the underlying asset is sold, leaving billionaires like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk—a pair frequently competing to be the single richest man on the planet—with very little taxable income.

"But they can still make eye-popping purchases by borrowing against their assets," Zucman noted. "Mr. Musk, for example, used his shares in Tesla as collateral to rustle up around $13 billion in tax-free loans to put toward his acquisition of Twitter."

SNIP

============
I thought this was already known. Regardless, something needs to be done about this yesterday!

[Midnight Writer]

1. "Mission Accomplished!"-Every Republican President in the Last 50 Years

I don't mind paying taxes. It's the price we pay for a functioning government, a functioning economy, and a functioning society.

But when I see I pay more in taxes, not in percentage but in real dollars, than a billionaire, it is very frustrating.

[diva77]

6. Agree 1000%

[Wonder Why]

2. Thank goodness. It is so embarrassing when we billionaires have to pay any taxes.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. I know. It unfairly eats into the enormous amounts they charitably donate for the good of society.

Those poor billionaires. I could just cry. Just like I would if I was on the stand in court testifying for a former boss who never gave a darn about me or anyone else.


Thanks for the setup, Wonder Why.



❤️

[multigraincracker]

3. We have the best government money can buy.

Time to tax wealth, not wages.

[slightlv]

5. From a very Young age,

taxing labor and wages made no sense to me. As I grew older I saw that the tax code was used for more than just funding govt... It was also used to direct society in the ways the PTB wanted it to move... Economically, culturally, and morally. We lost the morality a long time ago. The idea of Taxation, itself, was corrupted. Today, at 68, taxing labor and wages makes even less sense.

[ck4829]

7. Should be considered absolutely disgusting

[BoRaGard]

8. "Hip hip hoooray!" - G.O.P.