[harryh]

That's largely a myth.

[caminante]

In what way?

[harryh]

As in it's something that people seem to think based on no real evidence.

[caminante]

I think I understand what you're getting at (i.e. it's not as widespread?), but at the same time, I can think of numerous situations where wealthy individuals use deductions and tax advantaged assets to shield income.

Wealthy individuals have greater spending flexibility and access to things like trusts, asset relocation to no-tax locations, deductions, etc.

In '09, 35K households with income over $200K reported 0 tax liability [1].

[1]http://www.businessinsider.com/some-of-the-wealthiest-pay-no...

[tiler]

You do know what happened in 2007-2008 which allowed for this, right?

[jessaustin]

Admitting that the wealthy played accounting games in one particular year doesn't exactly disprove the thesis that the wealthy play accounting games.

[harryh]

It's not accounting games to pay lower taxes when you lose a lot of money.

[caminante]

If only the story hasn't been repeating...Here's a similar article from 2013 [1].

Right?

[1]http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2013/09/05/how-some-high...

[harryh]

It's not exactly an accounting trick if you do one of the following:

1) Earn most of your income in a foreign country so you pay taxes there instead of the US.

2) Earn most your income from tax exempt bonds.

Anyone can do this. You don't need a fancy accountant. Just either:

1) Move to a foreign country and get a job there.

2) Buy a bunch of tax exempt bonds.

These aren't people with high paying jobs somehow magically not paying taxes on them. So, like I said: "largely a myth".