From Jessie Eisinger:

NEW: Today @ProPublica presents The Secret IRS Files. We have obtained a vast trove of never-before-seen tax data on thousands of the richest Americans covering more than 15 years. (THREAD)

2/ The data provide an unprecedented look into the financial lives of America’s titans, from Jeff Bezos, to Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Mike Bloomberg & many more.

3/ Sometimes these guys even paid $0 in federal income taxes. Bezos did it in ‘11 and ‘07. Musk did it in ‘18. Icahn, Bloomberg & Soros did it too in recent years.

4/ But that’s somewhat unusual. What isn’t is that we found that the ultra-wealthy essentially side-step the tax system.

5/We did a calculation no one else has ever done: Comparing how much the top 25 richest Americans pay in taxes compared to their wealth growth. (That can be thought of as income for this group.)

6/ Here’s the summary: A typical American with $70K in income will pay about 14% in federal income taxes. The top marginal income tax rate is 37%.

The top 25? They paid 3.4% of their wealth growth in 2014 to 2018.

7/ In our story today, we explain how this works and why it came about. You’ll learn about a key Supreme Court decision from over 100 years ago. You’ll learn the phrase “Buy, Borrow, Die.”

8/ You’ll find out which titanically wealthy couple was able to report so little in income to the IRS that they could claim the child tax credit. I hope you read it and share it!

9/ We will be doing stories all year about how the wealthy avoid taxes, exploit loopholes and escape scrutiny from federal auditors. If you can help, please contact us here:

Zandile Tshabalala

Within Silence , 2020

me: *gets depressed*

my breasts: