The collective fortunes of the seven richest Americans, all of whom are white men, are now just over a trillion dollars. These seven pay practically nothing in income tax.
I reported about it last April
Another obscene milestone in US wealth concentration. Back then, for
For the first time ever, there was $ 1 trillion in the pockets of just eight rich guys, a group small enough to squeeze into a single SUV.
Today, almost four months later, this “trillion dollar club” will soon throw another member to the curb. According to Forbes, the collective wealth of the seven is American
richest white men – Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark
Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Larry Ellison – stood at $ 996
Billions at the end of the day yesterday. The seat in the trillion dollars
The SUV is about to be evicted and belongs to Warren Buffett. The trillion dollars
The club's deep pockets will soon not need its $ 100 billion net to make money
Trillion. So long, Warren.
Think about it. Only seven guys now control about $ 1 trillion in
Wealth, an amount now nearly a third of the $ 3.5 trillion package
before Congress for much-needed programs by dental
and Vision Care for Seniors and Child Tax Breaks to Save Millions
from families out of poverty to actions that can save our burning planet
from climate change.
In other words, the cost of what some demonize as
“Unaffordable” social expenditures for a country with 330 million inhabitants turn out to be
almost three times the size of the fortune of just 0.0000022 percent of ours
US population.
The even deeper connection between the riches of ours
"Seven trillion dollars" and that $ 3.5 trillion in social spending:
Whether these issues will become a reality will likely depend on the votes of the
so-called political moderates who insist that the program must be "paid for".
The same moderates will hold the deciding vote on the Pay Fors.
Proponents of social spending suggest: Increased taxes on the
The country is enormously rich, including seven trillion dollars.
And that brings us back to how we got into this mess in the first place. ProPublica recently unveiled
what many of us have already suspected: Our trillion-dollar seven – and
their fellow billionaires – hardly pay taxes as a percentage of theirs
real income. Between 2014 and 2018, America's top 25 billionaires paid
Federal income tax of just 3.4 during that five-year period
Percent of the increase in their collective wealth beyond that
Period.
Can we change this dynamic?
Yes, but for this to happen, these political moderates must agree to end the tax avoidance strategy – “buy-borrow-die”.
– that allows billionaires and the just super-rich to evade taxes
the enormous profits they make on their investments. This scam works
really easy. The rich buy an investment or, in the case of
the trillion dollar seven to start a company. Then when your wealth increases
they never sell in terms of value. Instead, they borrow against the elevated ones
Value of their asset when they need cash. Eventually they and die
each death clears the tax liability on all profit that is gone
untaxed, sometimes for an entire adult life.
What makes the buy-borrow-die strategy possible? The gaping loophole
Known in our tax law as the “tiered basis”. Below that void are these
sell the inherited assets are treated as if they had the acquired assets
Assets at their market value on the day of the deceased owner
Death. The Bottom Line: If Jeff Bezos' children inherit his Amazon shares,
About $ 200 billion in profits are not taxed at all.
Our political leaders are aware of the tightened base
Loophole for decades but haven't done anything while the super-rich have
uses buy-borrow-die to amass obscene piles of untaxed wealth.
But the Biden administration is now calling for the end of Congress
reinforced base to fund the programs we need to move our country
Forward. Will our legislators now muster the courage that
Seven trillion dollars? Or will the wealth of our nation continue
focus – into a trillion dollar six?
We'll know soon.
AUTUMN FUNDRAISER
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