Those cited didn’t respond to ProPublica’s questions, except for Weschler, who stated his retirement account “relied on publicly traded investments and strategies available to all taxpayers.” He added that he is favor of reforming the system.
“Although I have been an enormous beneficiary of the IRA mechanism, I personally do not feel the tax shield afforded me by my IRA is necessarily good tax policy,” he told ProPublica. “To this end, I am openly supportive of modifying the benefit afforded to retirement accounts once they exceed a certain threshold.”
There have been previous reports of massive retirement accounts, including when Mitt Romney ran for President in 2012 and listed on a financial disclosure form he had an IRA worth $20 million to $102 million. Romney, a former Bain Capital executive, had placed low-valued shares from private equity deals into the account to bypass the limits. As a traditional IRA, Romney’s account would ultimately be subject to tax when money is withdrawn.
Ron Wyden, a Senate Democrat from Oregon in 2016 outlined a reform plan arguing that there needed to be crackdown on “massive Roth IRA accounts built on assets from sweetheart, inside deals.”
ProPublica’s analysis detailed that by the end of 2018, at least seven other current or former Bain executives had amassed IRAs worth $25 million or more, with three exceeding $90 million.
Thiel, who is worth $7.2 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, was audited by the IRS in 2011. The audit was closed years later without Thiel owing any more taxes, ProPublica said, citing the tax records.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.