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8 Dec, 7 tweets, 3 min read
NEW: How billionaires slash their taxes--and have fun doing it!

Hobbies & passion projects all provide losses that allow some to not pay fedl income taxes for more than a decade.

Next in our #SecretIRSFiles from @PAUKIEL, me & @JeffErnsthausen:

propublica.org/article/when-y…
Did you know that the Kentucky Derby is heavily underwritten by taxpayers?

Yep. We’re subsidizing the pleasure of the superrich: Image
This one’s got a lot: The Beanie Baby guy, the owner of the LATimes, the Reebok guy, a Campbell Soup heiress.

Perhaps my fave: A guy who retired to live in, as he joked, N-one-four-four-kilo-kilo,” the tail numbers of his Gulfstream. (Yes, that was a writeoff.)
The folks in our story didn’t respond to requests for comment but that shouldn’t stop you from reading to the end to see how a pair of titans managed to keep avoiding income taxes--even after being caught evading them.
Don’t forget Day One of our series-within-a-series on how some billionaires tell the IRS they lose money every year.

In real life they make tons of money.

propublica.org/article/these-… Image
Know something important about the superrich and taxes? Reach us here!

projects.propublica.org/tips/help-us-r…
And you can sign up for my (mercifully only occasional) newsletter here:

tinyletter.com/JesseEisinger

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More from @eisingerj

Jesse Eisinger Profile picture
9 Dec
Meet Phyllis Taylor. She’s a big New Orleanian billionaire philanthropist.

A friend called her a “Gentle Dove.” She also likes hunting, and shot this leopard in Zambia: Image
Early on when @paulkiel & @JeffErnsthausen & I dove into the #SecretIRSFiles, Phyllis Taylor stood out.

Her taxes are mind-boggling. It shows her losing on the order of $350 million--every year.

She hadn’t paid federal income taxes for years and years.

How was that possible?
We dove in.

Turns out she owns an oil exploration company called Taylor Energy. It made her, at one point, the richest woman in Louisiana.

And that company is responsible for the longest-running, and maybe the largest, oil spill ever in the U.S.
Read 15 tweets
Jesse Eisinger Profile picture
7 Dec
NEW: Some billionaires tell the IRS they lose money every year.

In real life they make tons of money.

The next big installment of the #SecretIRSFiles, from @JeffErnsthausen, @paulkiel, & me: propublica.org/article/these-…
They offset that tons of $$ w/ big deductions & go years w/out paying taxes. Today's story is on real estate & fossil fuel tycoons:
-Stephen Ross, (Hudson Yards)
-Kelcy Warren, (Dakota Access Pipeline)
-Charles Kushner (Jared’s dad)
&
-Trump (yeah we got his taxes)
How do these titans manage this feat?

If you’re rich, the tax code lets you do it.
Read 9 tweets
Jesse Eisinger Profile picture
31 Aug
What's going on with @HeidiHeitkamp & taxes now is an incredible story of how Washington works.

At once, shocking but also entirely normal.

It's about a seemingly complicated tax gift for the ultrawealthy that isn't complicated at all. Here's how it works:
Say you buy shares of Amazon at $100 and they go up to $200 after a year. You sell. You have to pay capital gains tax on that $100.

But let's say you are so rich that you don't need to sell...
If you wait until you die, then that cap gains tax obligation just... disappears! For passing onto your heirs, you get to pretend you bought it at $200. The value of your purchase is called your "basis" and it "steps up" at death: $100 magically becomes $200.
Read 15 tweets
Jesse Eisinger Profile picture
8 Jun
Ok, let's talk traditional tax rates--taxes over income.

We got the tax returns & measured the effective tax rate for the top 25 richest Americans.

Remember, here's how our tax system is supposed to work: the more income you have, the higher percentage you pay.

Does it?
People making btn $2-$5 million pay the highest, at 27.5%.

Then: Effective rates start falling!

The top slice measured by the IRS, abt 1400 people, pays about 23%.

& the top 25 billionaires? They pay just 15.8%.

That's actually more than a single person making just $45K/year.
Here's are the details: propublica.org/article/you-ma…
Read 4 tweets
Jesse Eisinger Profile picture
8 Jun
NEW: Today @ProPublica presents The Secret IRS Files. We have obtained a vast trove of never-before-seen tax data on thousands of the richest Americans covering more than 15 years. (THREAD)

propublica.org/article/the-se…
2/ The data provide an unprecedented look into the financial lives of America’s titans, from Jeff Bezos, to Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Mike Bloomberg & many more.
3/ Sometimes these guys even paid $0 in federal income taxes. Bezos did it in ‘11 and ‘07. Musk did it in ‘18. Icahn, Bloomberg & Soros did it too in recent years.
Read 9 tweets
Jesse Eisinger Profile picture
8 Apr
I'm writing. Which means procrastinating.

So I've been thinking about some Rules for Reporting:

1. Pick up the damn phone. You know less than you think but someone out there knows something. This is scary and won’t get easier over time. (credit: @Colarusso42)
2. Ask dumb questions. Your job is to look at closed priesthoods and ask why they do the things they do. You will be told you are dumb. That’s ok. One of those questions will turn out to be newsworthy.
3. Destroy your ego. The process of becoming a good reporter is figuring out it's not about you looking smart. (Harder for some than others.)
Read 20 tweets

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