Trump paid no tax in 2020!
Republicans are upset Trump's tax returns were released and threaten to attack the IRS. Billionaire tax dodgers pay under a 5% effective tax rate, but give millions in donations to Republicans who fight to cut taxes for them. Follow the money to see how the super rich dodge their taxes denying working Americans the Federal services they are entitled to.
- 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).
Confused why a politician is usually doing something? Ignore the fake outrage and posturing. Follow the money to see who's funding their campaign and guess what they want in return.
Follow the money
Billionaires buying elections
For the past few years, we’ve all had front-row seats to billionaires’ attempts to gain more wealth, influence and power in America, whether by purchasing media sites, busting unions, jacking up prices, or dodging taxes. And with midterms looming, some billionaires are pouring millions into electing politicians who will do their bidding.
Right-wing billionaires are trying to use their huge fortunes—which are largely untaxed—to buy elections and pass laws that protect their wealth and power. Whether their goal is keeping their taxes low, privatizing public schools, keeping prescription drug prices high, attacking abortion rights and the LGBTQ+ community, it’s clear that the wealthiest Americans have the money and power to rig democracy and overpower voters’ voices. - Americans For Tax Fairness
How to follow the money
We used three data sources to create this map. Forbes for a list of wealthy billionaires. Open Secrets for a political donations these billionaires made and Americans for Tax Fairness to see how much taxes they paid. It's funny how the Republicans attacking the IRS also get the most political donations from billionaires.
Republicans fight to cut their donors' taxes
Republican senators have removed funding for IRS enforcement from an emerging bipartisan infrastructure plan, threatening to tank a proposed crackdown on rich tax cheats. "Fully funding the IRS = $1.2 trillion in revenue over 10 years. No wonder Republicans want to protect their rich friends." - Rep. Ro Khanna
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), part of the 22-member bipartisan group that's rushing to hash out the details of the infrastructure bill ahead of a key procedural vote this week, confirmed Sunday that the IRS provision has been removed due to right-wing "pushback." Portman also complained that Democratic lawmakers are working to provide the IRS with more funding in their forthcoming reconciliation package, which can pass without Republican support. The scrapped provision would have increased the IRS budget--a frequent target of GOP cuts in recent years--by $40 billion over the next decade to help the agency combat tax dodging, which is depriving the federal government of trillions of dollars in revenue.
An analysis released earlier this year by academics and IRS researchers estimated that 36% of unpaid federal income taxes are owed by the top 1%.
Due to persistent funding shortages and inadequate staffing, the IRS now audits poor Americans at roughly the same rate as the wealthy, who often use complex strategies to avoid paying taxes. Big businesses are also taking advantage of the depleted IRS; the agency now audits just half of all large company tax returns, allowing corporations to claim unwarranted tax breaks. - Common Dreams
Billionaires tax dodgers
Billionaire business owners deployed lobbyists to make sure Trump’s 2017 tax bill was tailored to their benefit. Confidential IRS records show the windfall that followed. (ProPublica).
"26 of the nation’s richest billionaires paid an average effective federal income tax rate of just 4.8%. Collectively, they paid just $24 billion in taxes — a tiny amount compared to an immense growth of $500 billion in their wealth over those six years. Billionaires are able to dodge taxes on a large portion of their wealth due to tax laws allowing them to accrue wealth largely tax-free through investments and other sources. The taxes they did pay are on their relatively low taxable incomes — which Americans for Tax Fairness calculates in this case to be $132.2 billion, or only about a fourth of their wealth gain." - TruthOut
How does billionaire tax dodging hurt you?
TakeAway: Follow the money to see how billionaires get Republicans to lower their taxes. VOTE so everyone pays their fair share.
Deepak
DemLabs
DISCLAIMER: ALTHOUGH THE DATA FOUND IN THIS BLOG AND INFOGRAPHIC HAS BEEN PRODUCED AND PROCESSED FROM SOURCES BELIEVED TO BE RELIABLE, NO WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED CAN BE MADE REGARDING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, LEGALITY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY SUCH INFORMATION. THIS DISCLAIMER APPLIES TO ANY USES OF THE INFORMATION WHETHER ISOLATED OR AGGREGATE USES THEREOF.
