Leak of billionaires' tax data draws GOP outcry over privacy

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Congress are alarmed by the leak of confidential IRS data to the investigative news organization ProPublica, enabling it to reveal that famous billionaires including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg paid little in U.S. income tax at times. A senior IRS official said Thursday that a federal criminal investigation into the leak has been requested.

Taking a detour from the debate over President Joe Biden’s tax overhaul plan, the GOP lawmakers are demanding to know how the private tax data was disclosed and they are pressing the Treasury Department and the IRS to pursue anyone who violated the law.

“Taxpayers must have the utmost confidence in federal institutions that house their personal and confidential information,” a group of Republican senators said in letters demanding an investigation. “Regrettably, it appears personnel with access to Americans’ personal and confidential information are misusing protected information for political reasons. Treasury and the IRS must hold accountable any and all individuals who broke federal law by inappropriately sharing the confidential tax information and tax returns of multiple Americans.”

Douglas O'Donnell, a deputy IRS commissioner, said at a hearing by a House panel that the Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS, has referred the matter for investigation to the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in the District of Columbia.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/leak-of-billionaires-tax-data-draws-gop-outcry-over-privacy/ar-AAKVcYT

Oh fuck off. I just wish they'd leaked Trump's taxes.

[Comfortably_Numb]

1. These repugnant thugs are a breed apart. At a mass shooting these cretins

would only care about the plight of the gun.

[Goodheart]

2. "There's no right to privacy in the Constitution!"

Aside from that, why should income taxes be private when property taxes are not?

[Pinback]

3. Outrage over the leak, not the revelations.

Or they’ll investigate George Soros when they get the chance but ignore the rest.

[Blue_true]

5. I read the article.

The method that was used to calculate tax rate was novel, and I believe unfair. If you looked at their tax rate on actual income, they actually paid about what a middleclass person would pay. I believe that the lowest was Buffett at just over 18%. Musk paid around 22%.

The Propublica method involved looking at the change in their asset values over the years that the tax data covered, then calculating a tax rate based upon what the people paid in income taxes against the appreciation in the value of their assets. The problem is that a large number of Americans have assets that appreciate in value and they do not pay income tax on that appreciation in value, examples are homes and land.

If Jeff Bezos’ assets appreciated $20 billion dollars, but he didn’t sell any of the assets, why should he have to pay taxes on the $20 billion asset appreciation? He gained NO income from that appreciation. If you argue that he should pay, then you should be willing to gladly pay federal income taxes on your home if it appreciates say $25,000 this year. Bezos paying income taxes on assets that he didn’t sell a nickel of is the very same thing as you having to pay federal income taxes because the house you live in appreciated in value, even if you have no intention of selling the house.

Now, was the tax rates they paid on actual income fair? No. The maximum tax rate is around 37%. The highest rate that was paid was around 22% by Musk, that is insane. Given that every one of them had incomes over $10 million dollars during the years they paid taxes, their rate should have been in the high 20s, minimum. Hell, I paid over 20% when I worked in corporate America.

[Pinback]

6. I support the Elizabeth Warren plan.

She proposes a small tax on wealth of $50 million and up. No penalty to regular rank-and-file Americans whose home value escalates bu $25k (to use your example).

[Blue_true]

7. I believe that taxing people that earns million of dollars

at a higher tax rate than what they are paying makes sense. Musk and the others should have paid more that 22% on income over $20 billion dollars (I believe that Buffett was less, around $14-18 million, Bloomberg was the highest earner). A lot of Sole Proprietor business people pay more than 22% on income, even when they make a few hundred thousand.

[Takket]

4. if privacy is a concern of theirs they must be REAL upset to hear DOJ was pulling data

on Schiff and his family for no reason

[Bev54]

8. Well they can stuff their outrage after the reveal tonight

of Trump, Sessions and Barr spying on congressman Schiff and another intel committee member (I wonder if it is Swalwell?) and their aides and the aides child. The GOP can go fuck themselves.