Tax and the .001 percentThe fallout from ProPublica’s bombshell report about billionaires’ tax bills is just beginning. What’s revelatory about the scoop is that it provides never-before-seen details of specific billionaires’ tax bills, or lack thereof. Icahn deducted interest payments on his companies’ debt, helping him pay no federal income tax in 2016 and 2017. Musk regularly borrows tens of billions against his stock holdings: those loans aren’t taxed, and the interest paid can often be deducted. What others have to say: For billionaires, the federal income tax “has become a voluntary tax,” the economist Gabriel Zucman told David Leonhardt of our sister newsletter, The Morning.

Source: New York Times June 09, 2021 11:56 UTC