Why Billionaires Pay So Little Tax

<p>Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Elon Musk and George Soros are household names. They are among the wealthiest people in the United States.</p><p>But a recent report by ProPublica has found another thing that separates them from regular Americans citizens: They have paid almost nothing in taxes.</p><p>Why does the U.S. tax system let that happen?</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/jonathan-weisman?smid=pc-thedaily">Jonathan Weisman</a>, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times. </p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/signup/NTTD?smid=pc-thedaily">Sign up here</a> to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/the-daily?module=inline">subscribe to our newsletter</a>. </p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>An analysis by ProPublica showed that from 2014 to 2018, the nation’s richest executives<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/08/us/politics/income-taxes-bezos-musk-buffett.html"> paid just a fraction of their wealth in taxes</a> — $13.6 billion in federal income taxes during a time when their collective net worth reportedly increased by $401 billion.</li><li>The exposé<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/us/politics/propublica-taxes-jeff-bezos-elon-musk.html"> has refocused attention on the tax code</a> and how it applies to the superrich.</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily.</a> Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.</p>