[mindcandy]

I read through the ProPublica article. What I got from it was:

1. They have a lot of unrealized gains. 2. They have losses. 3. They take out loans against those gains. I assume the play there is "I'll deal with it later (after 20 years of inflation-rate interest)." 4. They set up charities. 5. They lose money owning sports teams.

Did I miss anything?

[lotsofpulp]

Yes, that summarizes it, but all of that was already known and did not to be supported by leaked tax records. The root cause is automation and technology is allowing for more winner take all markets, combined with government money printing and reduced power of labor to negotiate for a bigger piece of the pie means assets keep getting more and more valuable.

Which lead to ever widening wealth gaps which might not be good for society, so taxing unrealized gains might be an answer.

[throwaway210222]

4. They set up charities.

How exactly does giving money to other people help a millionaire fund his/her lifestyle?

Surely the IRS you cannot have a charity that donates to just your family?

I wish these articles would be specific [so I can setup my own :) ].