richest 400 list

The Richest 400 Make Big Bucks but Give Less in Taxes

Filed under: Wealth

My colleague, Jared, highlighted Forbes' Richest 400 this past September including billionaires Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg. Now, Forbes has released interesting information about this elite group's tax responsibilities. It seems even though the top 400 make the most money they are not paying the highest percentage of taxes. The following numbers are based on the IRS' 2006 figures and the IRS' ranking of the top 400 (although there is a lot of overlap between the Forbes' 400 and the IRS' 400):

The Top 400 only paid an average of 17% of federal income tax
17% is the lowest tax bite in the fifteen-year period of this group's IRS statistics
In contrast, the top 5% pay an average of 21% of federal income tax and the top 1% pay an average of 23%!

You can read more of the financial details here but that synopsis just goes to show...its good to be at the top.

Source

Tags: forbes, richest 400, richest 400 list, Richest400, Richest400List, taxes, wealth