Milosia2 Loc: Cleveland Ohio

The Wealth S*********ts
by Robert Reich | June 11, 2021 - 5:55am
— from Robert Reich's Blog

ProPublica’s bombshell report on America’s super-wealthy paying little or nothing in taxes reveals not only their humongous wealth but also how they’ve parlayed that wealth into political power to shrink their taxes to almost nothing.

Jeff Bezos, the richest man in America, reportedly paid no federal income taxes in 2007 and 2011. Elon Musk, the second richest, paid no taxes in 2018. Warren Buffett, often ranking number 3, paid a tax rate of 0.1 percent between 2014 and 2018.

The real scandal is it’s legal.

Wealth and power are inextricably connected. The super-rich have bought armies of lobbyists to keep their taxes miniscule and to create and maintain tax loopholes large enough to drive their Lamborghini’s through.

The loopholes are tougher than kryptonite. Remember the notorious “carried interest” loophole that almost every p**********l candidate over the last five e******ns has promised to close? It’s still there.

The armies of the wealthy also prevent any major changes in the system that might threaten their wealth, such as a wealth tax, stronger unions, or tougher antitrust.

American democracy is being attacked from two directions right now – from the w***e s*********t followers of Donald Trump who are suppressing v**es, and from the wealth s*********ts who are bribing lawmakers with campaign contributions.

Some of the wealth s*********ts are quietly bankrolling the w***e s*********ts (see: Koch network, US Chamber of Commerce, Trump and his business boosters), because their mutual enemy is democracy.

A few weeks ago, hundreds of US corporations and CEOs lent their names to a two-page ad in the New York Times and Washington Post in support of v****g rights.

It turns out many of these companies and CEOS are also members of the US Chamber of Commerce, the powerful Washington business lobby that recently put out a “key v**e alert” against the For the People Act – designed to protect v****g rights from state laws suppressing v**es as well as the from the moneyed interests buying v**es.

The hypocrisy is running thicker than ever. Corporate public relations departments put out noble statements while corporate legislative departments continue to put out legislative bribes. Billionaires like Warren Buffett publicly advocate higher taxes while privately paying almost zilch.

The For the People Act targets both w***e s*********ts and wealth s*********ts, which is why it’s hugely popular with the public but is running into roadblocks even among Senate Democrats.

This is the fight of our time.

son of witless

So are you actually going to tell me that your boy Joe will only go after these super rich fat cats ? I say you are wrong. You are always wrong.

saltwind 78 Loc: Murrells Inlet, South Carolina

Milosa2, All I can say is right on. I am no socialists, but I do fear a government by the rich, for the rich, and of the rich. The only solution I can see is to have reasonable and enforced regulations. The CEOs wealth has increased some thing like 30 times, while the workers salary has remained the same as it was since too 50s.
The crazy thing to me is how can so many working people v**e for Trump?

Liberty Tree

Rather than picking out one isolated year I would like to know how much in taxes they have paid in their lifetime and how much their corporations have paid. How many jobs have they created for taxpayers? The top 10% incomes still pay the majority of taxes.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

LOL. Bombshell report from ProPublica. What a joke. These companies did nothing illegal. They took advantage of the tax code. The only legality broken here, was whoever leaked IRS tax returns.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

You’re a socialist and too ignorant to know it. One of the lower I.Q.’s on OPP. You are all about bigger government but not smart enough to understand the bigger the government the more power it has. Your answer, like all progressives is more government regulations. You want the very people who caused the problem to fix the problem. I swear, progressives are the dumbest people on earth.

son of witless

Democrats always do this. They want to raise taxes on entrepreneurs. These billionaires mentioned are mostly liberals who have made their money. The real targets are the up and coming job creators.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

One thing they don’t seem to get is taxes always trickle down. One way or another the working man pays more and so does everyone else.

Smedley_buzkill

Because we cannot afford to v**e for Socialists like Biden. Checked the price at the gas pump lately? Gas averaged around $2/gallon during most of Trump's presidency. The first day in office, Biden cancelled not only the Keystone Pipeline, but drilling and exploration on most Federal lands. The result? Gas is up more than 50 percent. Anytime this happens consumer prices rise. Right now they have risen faster since Biden assumed his stolen office than at any time since 2008. We are no longer an exporter of oil; we are a whisker away from being an importer again. It doesn't matter how many jobs are created when people are getting paid more to stay at home while the hordes of wetbacks that Biden has welcomed into this country start taking American jobs.
"G****l W*****g" is the number one National Security threat. China and Russia with nuclear weapons are secondary. Bulls**t. Right now, this country is still on Trump's last budget until October. Biden has raised the debt exponentially even so. Watch what happens when Peeloosely and the Democrap House push Biden's ruin America budget through, plus all of the bills that will come due from this year.
Your unreasoning hatred of Trump allows you to support a senile t*****r who could not care less about the United States, except as a cash cow for himself and his legal mafioso family.

Milosia2 Loc: Cleveland Ohio

Duh! could it be they’re making the most money.
Please don’t even try to defend them, it will only make you look foolish.

Milosia2 Loc: Cleveland Ohio

Exactly, there may be hope for you yet. If you’re the one paying their taxes then stop defending them.

Milosia2 Loc: Cleveland Ohio

I do not h**e. It is a useless emotion.
The opposite of love is not h**e,
It is Indifference.

Milosia2 Loc: Cleveland Ohio

The reason they did nothing illegal is because they paid people to write laws that made wh**ever they do , legal.
A sort of stacking the deck for greedy rich people.
The don’t care about you.
Better wake up before you wind up in the woodchipper !

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

Buffet, while calling for tax reform, said that he paid an effective tax rate lower than his secretary pays. The idea of a minimum 15% tax rate world wide, is an attempt to even the scales, but watch the US Congress put a bunch of loopholes in there to bring it back to 0.

Liberty Tree

Absolutely, raise taxes and the average citizen will pay for them in higher prices for goods and services.