ProPublica published on Tuesday a collection of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data on the tax returns of thousands of the United States' wealthiest people, covering a range of more than 15 years.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the White House "take[s] unauthorized disclosures [of Internal Revenue Service data] very seriously," and the Treasury Department was referring the matter to law enforcement, according to The New York Times. The confidential tax records obtained by ProPublica show that some uber-wealthy Americans have found loopholes to avoid paying high taxes.
The data provides a first-ever peek inside the financial lives of American household names, such as Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos, George Soros, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg, showing not only their income and taxes, but also their stock trades, investments, gambling winnings and "even the results of audits," according to the report the report.The records show a pattern of strategies used by these wealthy individuals to avoid paying taxes. These strategies are afforded to them because of their massive wealth, holding them far away from the average American, the report shows.Psaki made the comment in response to a question about a report by ProPublica that cited tax returns of thousands of the wealthiest Americans, showing how they avoided paying income taxes.
Psaki added there was more to be done to ensure US companies and individuals pay their "fair share" of taxes.Reuters contributed to this report.