Biden’s Tweet on Taxes That Billionaires Pay Fact-Checked, Labeled ‘Incorrect’ by Twitter

President Joe Biden speaks with reporters before departing from the South Lawn of the White House on Marine One in Washington, on March 17, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

A post published on President Joe Biden’s official Twitter account has been fact-checked and labeled “incorrect” after the White House claimed the average American billionaire pays just 3 percent in tax.

The president’s official account posted a tweet of a photo of Biden on March 18 containing a quote from him which read: “You know the average tax billionaires pay? Three percent. No billionaire should be paying a lower tax than somebody working as a schoolteacher or a firefighter.”

The post was captioned: “Look, I think you should be able to be a billionaire if you can earn it, but just pay your fair share. I think you ought to pay a minimum tax of 25 percent. It’s about basic fairness.”

However, it is unclear where Biden got the 3 percent figure from, and an “added context” tab was subsequently affixed to the post explaining that the tweet was “incorrect.”

That tab states that the average income tax rate in the tax year 2020 was 13.6 percent and the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid a 25.99 percent average rate, more than eight times higher than the 3.1 percent average rate paid by the bottom half of taxpayers.

Twitter Adds Context

In addition, the context post, which cites information from the tax foundation, notes that the top 1 percent’s income share rose from 20.1 percent in 2019 to 22.2 percent in 2020.

Biden had previously made the comment about the 3 percent tax rate during a visit to a labor union in Lanham, Maryland, on Feb. 15, during which he called for stricter taxes on billionaires and said he had urged Congress to pass his proposal for a minimum of 25 percent tax on billionaires.

“We had—when we started this administration—about 720 billionaires. Now we have about a thousand,” Biden said at a press conference during his visit. “You know what the average tax they pay is? About 3 percent. Look, no billionaire should pay a lower tax than a schoolteacher or a firefighter.”

Both Biden’s tweet and his comments in Maryland contradict a White House fact sheet released in February.

According to that fact sheet, titled “The Biden Economic Plan Is Working,” billionaires pay an average tax rate of just “8 percent” in a typical year.

Musk Weighs In

However, that amount factored in what would happen if the United States were to tax unrealized gains on stocks. Under current law, the calculation is made by taxing income and not unrealized wealth.

A separate analysis conducted by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) and released by the White House in 2021 stated that the wealthiest 400 billionaire families in America “paid an average of just 8.2 percent of their income—including income from their wealth that goes largely untaxed—in federal individual income taxes between 2010 and 2018.”

Again, this figure contradicts the 3 percent amount that Biden took aim at in his recent tweet.

After an “added context” banner was added to Biden’s tweet, tycoon Elon Musk commented on the post, questioning the White House claim.

“I paid 53 percent taxes on my Tesla stock options (40 percent federal and 13 percent state), so I must be lifting the average!” Musk wrote. “I also paid more income tax than anyone ever in the history of Earth for 2021 and will do that again in 2022.”

“I certainly agree that everyone should pay taxes and not engage in elaborate tax-avoidance schemes. Would be curious to hear how these other ‘billionaires’ are so good at avoiding taxes!” Musk added.