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Some of America’s richest billionaires—including the likes of Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and Ken Griffin—were among the highest earners between 2013 and 2018, but that didn’t mean they paid the highest income tax rates, as detailed by a new ProPublica report that cites confidential Internal Revenue Service data.
The report shows how America’s ultra-wealthy are able to pay lower tax rates on income.
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The new report from ProPublica on Wednesday details the 400 Americans reporting the highest adjusted gross incomes from 2013 to 2018, with the bottom of the list averaging $110 million per year, as well as how much they paid in federal income taxes.
Ten of the top 15 highest incomes during that period were realized by tech billionaires—who generally make income from selling stock, headlined by the likes of Bill Gates ($2.85 billion in average yearly income) and Michael Bloomberg ($2.05 billion).
The largest group—accounting for around a fifth of the 400 highest earners—were hedge fund managers raking in trading revenue, with notable figures including Citadel founder Ken Griffin ($1.68 billion in average yearly income), Susquehanna co-founder Jeffrey Yass ($1.3 billion ), as well as Two-Sigma cofounders John Overdeck and David Siegel ($1.17 billion each).
Also prominent on the list but not cracking the 15 highest earners were corporate executives, private equity firm founders and heirs to business empires such as the Walton and DeVos families.
While the rate of income tax typically increases the higher up you go, that trend tops out at the $2 million to $5 million range, with that group paying an average income tax rate of 29% from 2013 to 2018, according to ProPublica’s analysis of IRS ‘ publicly reported data.
Average income tax rates, especially for America’s ultra-wealthy, drop from there, however: Collectively, the top 400 highest-earners paid an average income tax rate of about 22% during that period, the report found.