It is surprising that after the string of economic scandals over the last decade—from Enron to the housing crisis—we still know so little about how America’s wealthiest manage to avoid paying taxes, depriving the treasury of billions in money that could be used to enhance public welfare. Now, America has never taken well to faintly socialist notions. That the tiny percentage of Americans who hold onto 22 percent of its wealth should contribute more to the public coffers than those who earn significantly less is heresy.

But what about the fact that the wealthiest citizens, the Warren Buffets, pay less in taxes than their secretaries? In fact, Buffet himself had 15 of 18 employees in his office fill out a survey about how much they pay every year in taxes. Buffet discovered that he paid a total of 17.7 percent while the office average was 32.9.

When we speak of economic crises, of Hurricane Katrina, of bubbles that burst we rarely examine how wealth is maintained in the United States and what it means for the rest of the country. As the American News Project notes in “Super Rich Tax Cheats,” the wealthiest Americans hide roughly 100 billion a year from the IRS. These offshore tax havens hold an estimated 1.5 trillion in American assets. There was some noise last fall, when the battle for progressive voters reached its peak, about taxing private equity and hedge fund managers at the same rate as the average American.

Today, we hear little about the inequities in tax policy that have made America the most stratified industrialized nation in the world. The wealthy are doing better than ever. The income tax rate is at its lowest level since the Great Depression. And Wall Street is betting on Obama. Interesting given that along with Carl Levin and Norm Coleman, Obama is supporting legislation that would crack down on tax haven abuse. Let’s hope he doesn’t change his tack the way he did with FISA.

Speaking of Obama, check out our panel discussion later tonight on the open letter to Barack Obama in the current issue of the Nation magazine.

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