Well it turns out that we–us regular folks– subsidize with our taxes the charitable contributions of the rich.
Chuck Collins of the progressive think tank Institute for Policy Studies has done the research for us all. He says, “When a billionaire donates money… we’re encouraged to applaud their generosity. [But since] donations reduce taxes on a billionaire’s income and estate, ordinary taxpayers chip in about 50 cents of every dollar they donate.”
But that’s not all. It’s been estimated by Global Financial Integrity that global corporations and the fantastically wealthy are hiding about $21 trillion in various tax havens.
And, as we’ve pointed out here before, the income of the fantastically wealthy is taxed at half the rate of our wages. “A teacher who earns $40,000 from her job owes Uncle Sam 25 percent of her income. But a hedge fund billionaire raking in $400 million from investments will only pay between 15 and 20 percent of that haul in taxes.”
Image source: @SenSanders