Mother Jones | Why Billionaires Pay Much Less Tax Than the Average American by Gabriel Zucman
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Jeff Bezos recently argued that billionaires already pay a large share of U.S. taxes, but research by economists Gabriel Zucman, Emmanuel Saez and others shows this claim is misleading: when all federal, state and local taxes—including payroll, sales and excise taxes—are considered, the effective tax rate for all income groups is roughly 25‑30 percent, with billionaires actually paying the lowest rate (about 24 percent in 2018‑20 and as low as 15 percent for Bezos in 2018). The working‑class bears a substantial tax burden through regressive taxes, while the ultra‑wealthy can structure their income to minimize liability, a trend that intensified after the 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, reducing billionaire tax contributions and expanding wealth concentration—today the richest 0.00001 percent own wealth equal to 14 percent of national income, up from 4 percent in 1910—highlighting a growing fiscal anomaly that calls for reform.
Read more: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/why-billionaires-pay-less-taxes-zucman-saez-jeff-bezos-irs-breaks-income-wealth/
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