Trump dodges his taxes. Musk pays next to no taxes. The GOP wants to slash the IRS.
Tax revenues fund the services we all rely on. Roads. Bridges. Healthcare. Education. Police. Defense. So when everyone don't pay their fair share, government services suffer and the rest of us are forced to pick up the tab for tax dodging billionaires.
Musk make a fortune selling Teslas, but pays an effective tax rate of under 5% according to Americans For Tax Fairness. Where do those Tesla's drive? On roads that other Americans paid for. Isn't it time that billionaires paid their fair share of taxes.
Follow the money
Wealthy tax cheats
The numbers released show that Trump declared he lost money in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2020, so that he paid no income tax, and that he paid a total of $1500 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017.
Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) said there is “no justification for the failure to conduct the required presidential audits until a congressional inquiry was made.” He called for additional funding for the IRS, noting: “These are issues much bigger than Donald Trump. Trump’s returns likely look similar to those of many other wealthy tax cheats—hundreds of partnership interests, highly-questionable deductions, and debts that can be shifted around to wipe out tax liabilities.” He also said: “I have additional questions about the extent to which resource issues or fear of political retaliation from the White House contributed to lapses here.” - Letters From An American
Trump weaponized IRS to attack his enemies
"IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig says it’s his decision - though under the supervision of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin - whether to comply with a request by Democrats to turn over President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
Rettig told a House panel Tuesday that the IRS is “working on” a response to last week’s letter from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal that asked for Trump’s tax returns. Neither Rettig nor Mnuchin - who testified before two House panels Tuesday - would state flatly which of them would make the decision on whether to release Trump’s tax filings." - Washington Times
Republicans attack the IRS
Republicans are upset that the IRS will hire more agents to catch tax dodgers. Why? Follow the money to trace the connection between tax dodging billionaires and political donations to the GOP.
- Who makes the most but pays the least pays the least taxes? 26 of US’s Richest Billionaires Paid 4.8 Percent Tax Rate.
- Who is the biggest recipient of donations from hedge fund billionaires? Republicans.
- Who was the biggest beneficiary of the Trump/Republican tax cuts? Billionaires.
- Who has proposed abolishing the IRS altogether? Rand Paul (R-KY).
- Who demanded billionaires be granted more tax cuts before he'd sign a pending bill? Ron Johnson (R-WI).
- Who is pushing a bill to deny the IRS access to banking records? Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tim Scott (R-SC).
- "The Democrats just passed this plan to hire an additional 87,000 IRS agents... our country needs prayers." said Mike Lee (R-UT) - MSN
How much tax did Elon pay?
Wealth growth, 2014-2018: $13.9 billion
Total income reported for tax purposes: $1.52 billion (10.94% of his wealth growth)
Total taxes paid: $455 million
True tax rate: 3.27%
Musk paid zero federal income taxes in 2018. One reason for the big mismatch between Musk’s reported income and wealth growth is that he makes sure the company he runs, Tesla, does not pay a dividend to shareholders. Such dividends are taxed annually. Instead, Tesla shareholders–prominently including Musk–make their money through the increase in the stock’s value, which under current tax law may never be taxed. - Billionaires Tax
TakeAway: Stop dark money from tax dodgers being used to elect Republicans who attack the IRS and push for more tax cuts.
Deepak
DemLabs
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Americans For Tax Fairness info
