“More than half of economic income generated by closely held businesses does not appear on tax returns and that ratio has declined significantly over the past 25 years.”
“From 2014 to 2018, the 25 wealthiest Americans grew about $400 billion richer, according to Forbes. To an economist, this was income, but under tax law, it was mere vapor, irrelevant. And so this group, including the likes of Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett, paid federal income taxes of about 3.4% on the $400 billion.”
“On average, the rate of income tax that people pay climbs as incomes ascend into the top 1%, but when you get to the range of $2M-$5M, that trend stops.
After that, average tax rates actually drop the further up in income you go.”
The word “‘billionaire” didn’t even exist until 1844. Fifty years later, we got “multibillionaire.” And for the next 127 years, that was enough.
But in 2020, while the working class faced near-record unemployment during the pandemic, the wealthiest Americans faced a different problem. Some of them had gotten so rich, there was no longer a word to describe just how rich they were.
That’s why I want to bring you one of the newest additions to the English language: “centibillionaires,” people with $100 billion or more.
What’s it like being one of history’s first centibillionaires? It’s hard to even imagine, but let’s try it by comparing them to the less fortunate. By which I mean just …regular… billionaires.
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So here’s the big question. Are these centibillionaires so rich because they work two and half million times harder than the average American? Are they really 100 times smarter than the typical billionaire?
I don’t think so. The reason for the rise of centibillionaires is that for decades, wealth hasn’t trickled down, it’s gushed up, all the way to the very top.
That’s not an accident. As it turns out, the system that the super-rich themselves carefully crafted and lobbied for, benefits… the rich!
We’ve got two choices as a country. We can tax the richest Americans fairly, and invest that money in ways that benefit all of us.
Or we can keep doing what we’re doing, and watch as centibillionaires get even richer while the rest of us get left behind.
If you think wealth and power are too concentrated in the hands of a privileged few now, just imagine what a few more years of trickle-down nonsense will bring.
Of course, it won’t be all bad. At least “trillionaire” is easy to say.
Wasn’t there also this tik tok that explained that just because the clothes aren’t eyecatching doesn’t mean they’re not expensive?
There are expensive brands that focus on making you look exactly like he does in that picture.
Fun story: this is a display of power. If you’re rich you can wear whatever you want and still be heard. Only the poor and so called lower class have to worry about first impressions and are forced to don the costumes of the rich in the hopes of being respected.
‘zacly, I don’t think we should discriminate against the super rich just because they happen to be Russian. there should be a more equal and egalitarian approach!
My friend told me the best example to explain the vast difference between a million and a billion
“A million seconds ago was last week. A billion seconds ago we were still dealing with the Soviet union.”
This is why when we talk about “rich people” who aren’t paying taxes or who are wasting money, we’re not talking about the person who makes 1 or 2 grains of rice worth of money a year. We’re talking about the person who makes the giant fucking Costco sized pile of rice.
Not just murdered, that could have been coincidence.
She was murdered with a fucking car bomb.
That’s not a botched robbery or a serial killer, that’s a professional assassination. Someone with money and political power, someone you might have voted for, planned and paid for this homicide.
An international group of journalists still collaborate to continue her work. It’s called The Daphne Project.
My friend told me the best example to explain the vast difference between a million and a billion
“A million seconds ago was last week. A billion seconds ago we were still dealing with the Soviet union.”
This is why when we talk about “rich people” who aren’t paying taxes or who are wasting money, we’re not talking about the person who makes 1 or 2 grains of rice worth of money a year. We’re talking about the person who makes the giant fucking Costco sized pile of rice.
We’ve gone from heated discussions between people who are pro-mask and people who are anti-mask to heated discussions between people who are pro-Musk and people who are anti-Musk…
‘The average person has nothing in common with mega-landowners like Bill Gates or Ted Turner. The land we all live on should not be the sole property of a few. The extensive tax avoidance by these titans of industry will always far exceed their supposed charitable donations to the public. The “billionaire knows best” mentality detracts from the deep-seated realities of colonialism and white supremacy, and it ignores those who actually know best how to use and live with the land. These billionaires have nothing to offer us in terms of saving the planet – unless it’s our land back.’
Article dated April 21, 2021
It’s probably related to what he’s doing in the rest of the world - buying land with access to aquifers.
