How the wealthiest avoid income tax

[income tax]

www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax

The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax
ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.
June 8, 2021 Jesse Eisinger, Jeff Ernsthausen and Paul Kiel

[Brian]

Thanks for starting this thread and posting that link. I read everything, including the sidebars. The ProPublica expose was reported on every news outlet I consume.  This concept of a true tax rate is radical -- and attention grabbing.  These revelations will be useful in trying to achieve reforms like increasing tax rates for the rich, setting a higher minimum multi-national tax rate for corporations, ending the step up basis on inherited assets and maybe even instituting an actual wealth tax on assets held by billionaires.

As I await further stories from ProPublica, I will also be following the legal ramifications. Will the Treasury Department be able to find out who anonymously submitted the trove of tax returns to ProPublica?  Was it an IRS employee?  Or was it a hacker?  Hacking would be worse because that would mean that our most important and secret personal data was also exposed.  If the released tax returns are independently authenticated, the IRS is in serious trouble.