Elon Musk , the second richest soul in the earth , paid precisely $ 0 in Union income taxation in 2018 , according to an explosive Modern report card fromProPublica . And Musk is n’t the only one .
ProPublica received highly tightlipped tax datum on everyone from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to mega - investor Warren Buffett by a method the fact-finding news outlet has n’t disclosed . And ProPublica promise it will spend the next month explore the intimate taxation avoidance schemes of America ’s wealthiest people .
ProPublica has already given us a taste of the flaky taxation filings with today ’s account . Take Jeff Bezos , for illustration . The Amazon CEO account $ 46 million in income for 2007 but did n’t pay anything in Union taxes during that yr . How ? According to ProPublica , Bezos “ offset every penny he earned with losses from side investments and various deductions , like interest expense on debt and the dim catchall category of ‘ other disbursal . ’ ”
File photo of Elon Musk at a meeting with former President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C. on 24 May 2025.Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP (Getty Images)
Did you earn money in 2007 ? If you did , you almost certainly pay more in Union income taxes than the loaded serviceman on the planet . And it gets even worse .
FromProPublica :
His taxation shunning is even more salient if you examine 2006 to 2018 , a period for which ProPublica has complete datum . Bezos ’ wealth increase by $ 127 billion , according to Forbes , but he reported a total of $ 6.5 billion in income . The $ 1.4 billion he paid in personal federal taxes is a massive number — yet it amounts to a 1.1 % true tax rate on the salary increase in his fortune .
Or how about Elon Musk ? The depiction is likewise depressing .
With the elision of one year when he exercised more than a billion dollar mark in caudex options , Musk ’s taxation beak in no path reflect the fortune he has at his disposal . In 2015 , he pay $ 68,000 in federal income tax . In 2017 , it was $ 65,000 , and in 2018 he pay no federal income taxation . Between 2014 and 2018 , he had a dead on target tax pace of 3.27 % .
Musk is also a beneficiary ofenormous political science contractsfor his company SpaceX , something that makes his tax turning away really find like double dipping into the public coffer .
you may register the intact ProPublica account on itswebsite , where you may learn about why some top executives take infamously modest salaries . Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg , for exemplar , takes just $ 1 each year . Why ? wage are taxed at a eminent rate , while the sale of stocks and bonds are taxed much low .
There ’s an significant give-and-take to be had about raising the marginal tax rate on the flush Americans . But there necessitate to be a serious national conversation about how to verify mass like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett actually give their mediocre share .
Does the solution lie in a wealthiness revenue enhancement like Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed ? That might assist . But whatever gets passed pauperism to be a major overhaul that does n’t let the moneyed to get by with pay nothing in federal taxes . It ’s obviously a crime that billionaires even be in a polite companionship since there plainly are n’t enough hour in a day to justify the accrual of so much wealth .
If billionaires are allowed to exist they can at least pay a tax rate corresponding to the average American who ca n’t get away with umbrageous taxation avoidance dodging . It ’s literally the least we can do .
AmazonElon MuskFacebookForbesJeff BezosMark ZuckerbergSPACEX
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