“The shock stems, in part, from a disturbing reality: Nowhere does ProPublica assert that these men cheated, lied, or did anything felonious to lower their tax burdens. The naked fact of the matter is that not a single one of the documented methods and practices that allowed these billionaires to so radically minimize their tax obligations was illegal.
What’s worse, these methods and practices—things such as offsetting income with losses in unrelated businesses; structuring assets to grow rather than generate income, then borrowing against those growing assets for cash needs; and deducting interest payments and state taxes from taxable income—are so downright mundane and commonly applied that most rich people don’t see them as unethical. The more interesting question is not how the men in ProPublica’s report were able to avoid paying much or anything in federal income taxes, but why. What motivates people with so much money to try to withhold every last bit of it from the public’s reach?
One factor is the common ideology that underlies all of these practices: The government is bad and cannot be trusted with money. Far better for the wealthy to keep as much of it as possible for themselves and use (a fraction of) it to do benevolent things through philanthropy.
My grandfather Roy O. Disney, who co-founded the Walt Disney Company with his brother Walt, was a fervent believer in this idea. He was so determined to prevent the government from taking any of the money he wanted to leave to his family that he created generation-skipping trusts to end-run the IRS. What he did back then was so effective that most of it is illegal today.
I will protest to my dying breath that he was a good man—one of the best, in fact.
But I will also add, at the very end of that dying breath, that he should not have been able to do that.”
If you want to read our other published material, please visit https://marcellus.in/blog/
Note: The above material is neither investment research, nor financial advice. Marcellus does not seek payment for or business from this publication in any shape or form. The information provided is intended for educational purposes only. Marcellus Investment Managers is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and is also an FME (Non-Retail) with the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) as a provider of Portfolio Management Services. Additionally, Marcellus is also registered with US Securities and Exchange Commission (“US SEC”) as an Investment Advisor.
MORE FROM Oct WEEK 3
-
Short
Short read: The pioneering women who pushed for gender equality shortly after India’s independence
READ MORE
-
Short
Short read: Falcons for status, reptiles for show – how social media feeds the exotic-pet trade
READ MORE
-
Short
Short read: What is an EV worth after five years? China’s used-car market has an answer
READ MORE
MORE FROM Oct WEEK 3
-
Short
Short read: The pioneering women who pushed for gender equality shortly after India’s independence
READ MORE
-
Short
Short read: Falcons for status, reptiles for show – how social media feeds the exotic-pet trade
READ MORE
-
Short
Short read: What is an EV worth after five years? China’s used-car market has an answer
READ MORE
