In 2011, a year in which his wealth held roughly steady at $18 billion, Bezos filed a tax return reporting he lost money - his income that year was more than offset by investment losses. He was able to offset every penny he earned with losses from side investments and various deductions, like interest expenses on debts and the vague catchall category of “other expenses.” In that year, Bezos, who filed his taxes jointly with his then-wife, MacKenzie Scott, reported a paltry (for him) $46 million in income, largely from interest and dividend payments on outside investments.

The IRS records show that the wealthiest can - perfectly legally - pay income taxes that are only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions, if not billions, their fortunes grow each year. Taken together, it demolishes the cornerstone myth of the American tax system: that everyone pays their fair share and the richest Americans pay the most. It shows not just their income and taxes, but also their investments, stock trades, gambling winnings and even the results of audits. The data provides an unprecedented look inside the financial lives of America’s titans, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg. ProPublica has obtained a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nation’s wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years. George Soros paid no federal income tax three years in a row. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn did it twice. Michael Bloomberg managed to do the same in recent years. In 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes. In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multibillionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. Sign up to be notified when the next installment publishes.

The Secret IRS Files is an ongoing reporting project.

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.

Trove free credits v3.1