Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos paid zero income tax some years, IRS records show

REVEALED: Billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos paid ZERO federal income tax some years, according to secret trove of IRS records from America’s 25 richest people

  • The IRS records from the 25 wealthiest people in the United States were obtained by ProPublica and published on Tuesday 
  • The records show that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos paid no income tax in 2007 and 2011, while Tesla founder Elon Musk’s income tax bill came to zero in 2018
  • Investor George Soros went three straight years without paying federal income tax, according to the records 
  • The report found that the richest 25 Americans pay less in tax – nearly 16 percent of adjusted gross income – than the average worker does 

Billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos paid zero federal income tax some years, according to a trove of secret IRS records. 

The confidential IRS records from the 25 wealthiest people in the United States were obtained by ProPublica and published on Tuesday. 

It show that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos paid no income tax in 2007 and 2011, while Tesla founder Elon Musk’s income tax bill came to zero in 2018.

Investor George Soros went three straight years – between 2016 and 2018 – without paying federal income tax, according to the records.  

The report found that, overall, the richest 25 Americans pay less in tax – nearly 16 percent of adjusted gross income – than the average worker does. 

Tesla founder Elon Musk's income tax bill came to zero in 2018, the records show

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos paid no income tax in 2007 and 2011, while Tesla founder Elon Musk’s income tax bill came to zero in 2018, according to IRS records obtained by ProPublica and published on Tuesday

ProPublica has not revealed how it obtained the tax data. The outlet only said it was given the data in ‘raw form’ after publishing a series of articles that examined the IRS. 

In reviewing the tax data, the site calculated what it called a ‘true tax rate’ for the billionaires by comparing how much tax they paid each year to how much Forbes estimated their wealth had grown in that same period.  

Warren Buffett, the CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has avoided the most tax, according to the records.

Between 2014 and 2018, Buffet’s wealth grew by about $24.3 billion but he reported paying $23.7 million in taxes.

It showed a so-called true tax rate of 0.1 percent, which equates to less than 10 cents for every $100 Buffet added to his wealth in that period.