it was a crazy busy week, with Joe and auntie Kamala abroad, all those cicadas scaring the living daylights out of our east coast readers, and that French dude getting slapped in the face. so, we’ll be skipping our usual “what we’re reading” section today - it’s not like any of you have actually been buying our recommended books anyways 😉

big idea: surprise - rich people don’t pay taxes

1. ProPublica got a hold of fifteen years of tax returns from thousands of america’s richest people, and they told us what everyone already knew - rich people don’t pay anywhere near their fair share of income taxes. the average ‘murican pays a 14% tax rate, while the richest 25 americans pay a tax rate of...3.4%.
2. daddy Bezos claimed to be so poor in 2011 that he claimed a child tax credit of $4000, which was designed to help low and middle class americans with the costs of raising families - despite his wealth increasing by $18 billion that year.
3. these fat cats sidestep income tax by using their stock holdings and other investments as collateral for loans. they then pay for their extravagant lifestyles (and/or more investments) with that borrowed money, and - wait for it - deduct the interest on their loans from their taxes.
4. nothing we’ve mentioned so far is illegal, and that’s really the problem here. expect this to amp up calls for a wealth tax from progressives in DC, among other tax reform ideas. republicans, as always, are focused on the wrong issue - they want to know who leaked these tax reports, probably because they’re afraid their donors will be the next targets.

story to watch: college athletes are gonna be $$$

1. the senate held hearings this week on potential federal legislation to allow college athletes to prostitute themselves to big business to license their names and likenesses. in a nutshell, that means that kid who got into UMich with a 2.9 high school GPA because he knew how to throw an inflated orange ball at an elevated metal hoop can become a TikTok influencer and sell branded CBD oil from a local dispensary.
2. well...it’s clear what we think about this. colleges shouldn’t be in the business of athletics, and all these NCAA teams should be spun off into independent amateur leagues (like how hockey and baseball work). universities lose tens of millions of dollars a year on their athletics programs, and now it looks like the student-athletes will be able to get in on the scam too.
3. it’s unlikely any federal legislation will be passed soon, but expect movement by the end of this month from state legislatures and the NCAA. some states have already legalized college athletes putting themselves up on OnlyFans, and universities are pushing for a uniform set of rules for everyone to play by.

this week’s image: terrorist attack in canada

• (AP) a mother talks to her daughter at the site of the fatal terrorist attack against muslims in london,