How Billionaires Sidestepped a Tax Aimed at the Rich

Congress created a new type of Medicare tax to capture the kinds of income the rich often enjoy.

A host of billionaires — sports team owners, oil barons, Wall Street traders and others — have managed to avoid paying it.

ProPublica analyzed its trove of IRS data to study who was actually paying the new tax.

Owners of passthrough businesses with significant revenue already enjoy plenty of tax perks.

The NIIT carve-out meant that when they sold their businesses, or portions of them, they’d be spared any extra charge beyond income tax on their capital gains.

Most of the biggest winners were owners, like Sterling , selling privately held businesses.

Forbes estimates Yass ’ fortune at $50 billion .

ProPublica analyzed tax data of hundreds of the wealthiest hedge fund and private equity managers to understand how they were complying with the NIIT .

Yass, a longtime libertarian, gave $95 million last election cycle to conservative groups, especially the antitax Club for Growth .

Tilton won fame on Wall Street as the brash head of her own investment firm.