Bezos Wrong & Biden Right on Taxing the Rich

You have to wonder about fiscal policy in any country where “Rich People Pay Taxes” is big news. In the United States, the default presumption is that rich people don’t pay taxes. As ProPublica reported last year, Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, paid no federal income tax in 2007, 2011, or 2018. Neither, in 2018, did the world’s second-richest man, Elon Musk. Yet tax receipts this year are expected to reach $2.6 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That’s a 26 percent increase over receipts in 2021. These projected tax receipts would constitute 10.6 percent of gross domestic product, the highest proportion ever recorded, and would shrink the budget deficit from last year’s $2.8 trillion to $1 trillion. And according to a report Sunday by The Wall Street Journal’s Richard Rubin and Amara Omeokwe, rich people are probably driving the trend. Read Full Article »