"Only The Little People Pay Taxes"

We've gone from Leona Helmsley to Logan Roy, and yet the discourse is about cutting food stamps.

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The American version of “let them eat cake” had long been real estate mogul Leona Helmsley declaring that "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes." But at least she went to jail. On this year’s IRS day, data suggest the modern tax ethos is more akin to the quip on the latest episode of Succession, when Roman Roy says that his father being lauded as a “business genius” is mediaspeak for Logan having “never paid a penny in U.S. taxes.”

As The Lever reports, America’s wealthy have stashed nearly $2 trillion in foreign tax havens, and most of that is controlled by a handful of oligarchs. The data comes just after a little noticed Supreme Court ruling limited federal regulators’ power to use fines and penalties to prevent rich people with offshore accounts from ignoring tax disclosure laws.

At a moment when the talk of Washington is all about the debt ceiling, strengthening tax collection might seem like a simple fix that could garner bipartisan support among politicians eager to fly the “law and order” banner. After all, nearly $400 billion of owed taxes goes uncollected every year.

But while the IRS is getting a much-needed boost in resources, that’s not where the budget conversation is.

Instead, Republicans are protecting the donor class by making sure the debt-ceiling discourse is not about Swiss bank accounts, but about cutting food stamps and hobbling tax enforcement. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has paid lip service to forcing billionaires to pay their fair share, but has refused to close an egregious $50 billion tax loophole that its tax officials could end with the stroke of a pen.

Leona Helmsley and Logan Roy may be dead, but they’d be pretty satisfied with these political conditions on tax day 2023.

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