It is true that Elon Musk did pay an $11 Billion tax bill in 2023. Though it’s unclear what taxes he paid, it’s speculated that it was federal state tax from when he lived in California for much of that year. Though Musk has danced his way around paying a large amount of his taxes for over a decade now. Forbes estimates that Musk owed $8.3 Billion in federal income tax in 2023, which was determined by his stock sales of that calendar year. A majority of Musk’s money however is not taxable as he, and other obscenely wealthy figureheads, makes a majority of his income through capital gains. As for what Bezos and Soros paid in taxes for the year of 2023, it’s hard to say – though one can safely assume that they’ve both successfully (and maliciously) avoided taxes. The data collected for these tax receipts are difficult to trace; the best evidence of Bezos’ paid tax receipts are between 2006 to 2018. For Bezos, he’s increased his wealth by $127 Billion since 2018. Forbes states that he’s only reported $6.5 Billion, meaning he’s only reported 5.1% of his total income. Though Bezos has paid $1.4 Billion in personal federal taxes, it’s pretty clear that he owes far more than that though is able to get around it by disguising how much he makes in his financial reports. As for Soros, we lose track of his money trail by the end of 2018 as well. George Soros lost money between the years 2016 and 2018 due to a crash on his investments, therefore was not entitled to paying federal income tax for those years (as he lost money, not gained). In conclusion, this information is incredibly hard to dig up and unfortunately cannot be gained by the public. It’s pretty common to assume that “The 1%” does not pay their taxes, so though we’re missing a substantial amount of data we can still draw a conclusion that these individuals are working behind the scenes to cover tracks.
Sources:
Topic no. 409, Capital Gains and losses. Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409#:~:text=Net%20capital%20gains%20are%20taxed,than%2015%25%20for%20most%20individuals
Musk’s $11 billion tax bill is Big News-because it’s just 10% of his wealth increase so far this year. Americans For Tax Fairness. (2023, September 28). https://americansfortaxfairness.org/musks-11-billion-tax-bill-big-news-just-10-wealth-increase-far-year/
Forbes Magazine. (n.d.). Forbes 2024 billionaires list - the richest people in the world ranked. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/
Eisinger, J., Ernsthausen, J., & Kiel, P. (2021, June 8). The secret IRS files: Trove of never-before-seen records reveal how the wealthiest avoid income tax. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax
