US Treasury Report: Richest Americans Evade Billions in Taxes

WASHINGTON - The richest Americans are failing to pay hundreds of billions in taxes they owe the government, a new U.S. Treasury report contended Wednesday. 

The report said the top 1% of taxpayers last year failed to pay about $163 billion in taxes, accounting for about 28% of the total of $600 billion in unpaid taxes, while the top 5% failed to pay a total of $307 billion, 53% of the overall sum.  The Treasury called the $600 billion in underpayments a "striking" total equal to about 3% of the country's annual economic output of nearly $23 trillion. The sum is equal to all the taxes paid by the country's lowest-earning 90% of taxpayers.  The wealthiest taxpayers account for the biggest part of the tax evasion, the report said, because they have the financial resources to hire accountants and tax advisers "who help shield them from bearing their true income tax liability."