Is our tax system truly fair? How much do America’s top earners pay in taxes? New IRS data obtained and published on April 13^th by ProPublica exposes wealth inequality in America, even among the nation’s richest.

“In theory, our tax system is designed to tax the rich at higher rates than everyone else. That’s not the way it works at the loftiest incomes,” ProPublica says, explaining that the tax system is one where the top earners “pay far lower tax rates than the merely affluent do.” ProPublica’s report further adds to criticism, often coming from progressives, that our tax system contributes to a growing wealth gap between the most affluent Americans and everyone else.

The Top 0.1% ... and Everyone Else

Many of the wealthiest Americans, particularly those in the petroleum and real estate industries, use tax write-offs to avoid taxable income. Another scheme, called “Buy, Borrow, Die,” is one used by figures like Warren Buffet, where they borrow against their wealth to avoid paying taxes, and then pass the wealth onto their estate after death, where taxes are similarly evaded.

Richest Americans’ Tax Rates

The average American, who makes $40,000 a year, per ProPublica, would need to work an astonishing 2,750 years to make it onto the list of the top 400 wealthiest Americans. How does one become one of the top 400 wealthiest Americans? They had to make an average of over $110 million every year.

A select few, 11 people to be precise, made over $1 billion in income yearly from 2013 to 2018. Names in this exclusive category include Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Ken Griffin, and Larry Ellison. To make an average of $1 billion every year, the average American making $40,000 annually would need to work for 25,000 years.

Technology executives are particularly overrepresented on the list of top earners making over $1 billion every year. Seven of the 11 names are tech executives or relatives to one, including Laurene Powell Jobs, widow to Apple founder Steve Jobs. Most of these executives earn their income from selling shares of stocks.

Complex Maneuvers

ProPublica also detailed the ways some of the wealthiest Americans find tax loopholes.

Because tech executives are far more likely to generate income from the stock market compared to a traditional salary, income for billionaires, like Bill Gates, can be taxed at a lower rate due to it being generated via stocks.

Progressives have slammed this practice, and have even gone as far as to demand the taxation of unrealized gains, which would represent a major overhaul of the American tax system. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D, Mass.) has particularly slammed the practice, highlighting Jeff Bezos as an example, and labeling him “a billionaire grifter” for Bezos’ capital gains and subsequent lack of taxation.

Executives of private equity firms often use the carried interest loophole, which allows private equity CEOs to treat fees paid by clients’ under the investment firm’s management as investment income, rather than ordinary income. This allows the investment income to not be taxed as ordinary income. President Trump voiced his opposition to the carried interest loophole, as he attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to eliminate the loophole during his presidency.

Charitable Deductions

Loopholes, like capital gains as income as well as carried interest, are not the only way the ultra wealthy avoid paying taxes. Many billionaires take enormous deductions to attain a lower tax rate.

In arguably the most extreme example, Former New York City Mayor and entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg deducts 66% of his income, over $1 billion, mainly through charitable contributions he made. Bloomberg had just 2% of his income taxed at a lower rate, bringing his average effective income tax rate down to a mere 4.1%.

Larry Page, co-founder of Google, also is a prominent individual who takes massive tax deductions. He deducts 58% of his income and is taxed at a rate of 13.2%. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, deducts 52% of his $652 million annual income and is taxed at a rate of 13.2%. Zuckerberg is also known for his philanthropy, which he can write off.

CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and one of the wealthiest men in America, Warren Buffett, sees a problem with the tax system, and told CNN in 2011 that the process needs to change. “There’s been class warfare going on for the last 20 years, and my class has won. We’re the ones that have gotten our tax rates dramatically reduced.”