Which, of course, brings us all to our last and most horrid fact of all: Billionaires barely pay ANY taxes — if they do so at all.
According to leaked IRS documents, Bezos and Musk have both gone without paying federal income tax in previous years. This is because people with absurd wealth can choose whether or not to be taxed on the growth of this wealth, and also because — in general — labor income is taxed at nearly double the rate as capital income. In fact, people like Mark Zuckerberg have claimed $1 salaries in previous years. That's where Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren's proposed wealth tax comes in.
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Jeannie 3 year s ago
If God thought money was important He would have given it to a better class of people.
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Lanson 3 year s ago
Set aside for the moment that it is not your money and you have no right to it...your entire premise is false. Wealth is not the same as ready money. Most of Musk's and Bezos' wealth is on paper only, i.e. the current market value of the stock they own in their respective companies. That is why it changes so much so often. You can't "take $175 billion each year" (#4) because there is really no money to take. If the evil billionaire were forced to sell stock to cover that tax, the stock price would go down. That would effect not just the evil billionaire, but the literally millions of people who have shares in those companies either directly or through their 401(k)s. In the most extreme cases, it could cause the company to become insolvent. So you'd get your wish to punish the evil billionaire while simultaneously impoverishing the thousands of employees in those companies. Great job Jealousy McJealousface! Way to stick it to the man.
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Dunk 3 year s ago
This comment need to be on top of this page. 
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Laurence 3 year s ago
Lanson. Yes, they don't have 300 billion on their bank account. But not paying taxes is a crime!
And there are "evil" billionaires. The billionaires mentioned here are from the western world. In some countries (i.e. UAE) billionaires treat their workers like slaves. I admire Elon Musk very much for what he achieved, it's almost superhuman but contribute to society by paying taxes!
And there are "evil" billionaires. The billionaires mentioned here are from the western world. In some countries (i.e. UAE) billionaires treat their workers like slaves. I admire Elon Musk very much for what he achieved, it's almost superhuman but contribute to society by paying taxes!
And there are "evil" billionaires. The billionaires mentioned here are from the western world. In some countries (i.e. UAE) billionaires treat their workers like slaves. I admire Elon Musk very much for what he achieved, it's almost superhuman but contribute to society by paying taxes!