As of early 2025, Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan is reported as India's highest tax-paying celebrity, with a tax liability of approximately ₹120 crore (approx. $14 million) for the 2024-2025 financial year. He surpassed previous top taxpayer Shah Rukh Khan, who paid ₹92 crore, and actor Vijay, who paid ₹80 crore.
Amitabh Bachchan has become India's highest tax- paying celebrity for FY 2024-25, surpassing Shah Rukh Khan and Thalapathy Vijay. As per reports, Big B paid a whopping ₹120 crore in taxes—marking a 69% increase from last year. 📈
Pop superstar Beyoncé and the IRS agree that she owes $709.20 in tax and penalties instead of the nearly $2.7 million that the agency had asserted in a deficiency notice, according to a stipulated decision approved by the Tax Court . The decision document in Knowles-Carter v.
In some years, billionaires such as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and George Soros paid no federal income taxes at all. Billionaires avoid these taxes by taking out special ultra-low-interest loans available only to them and using their assets as collateral.
Here's the key insight: while Swift remains a US tax resident who pays taxes on worldwide income, expats doing comparable work abroad can apply her tax strategies while ALSO leveraging powerful expat benefits she can't access.
Al Capone. A federal grand jury indicted notorious gangster Al Capone, leader of the Chicago Outfit crime syndicate, with 22 counts of tax evasion totaling over $200,000 in 1931 (equivalent to more $3.8 million today).
The most famous tax evader is often considered to be mob boss Al Capone, who was finally convicted in 1931 for failing to pay taxes on his vast illegal income, leading to his imprisonment; other famous figures include actress Sophia Loren, singer Willie Nelson, businesswoman Leona Helmsley, and actor Wesley Snipes, all known for different reasons for skirting tax laws.
The megastar is only the fifth musician to make the Forbes billionaires list, where she reigns with her husband Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Bruce Springsteen. Forbes reported Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter tour was the highest-grossing of 2025, raking in $400 million in ticket sales, and another $50 million in merch.
While no single individual is definitively named the all-time highest taxpayer due to data limitations, Berkshire Hathaway (led by Warren Buffett) holds the record for the largest single corporate tax payment, around $26.8 billion in 2024, while Elon Musk paid a massive $11-12 billion in 2021, and top earners collectively contribute the most revenue, with the top 1% paying around 40% of all individual income taxes.
But how people define “upper class” differs. Some say you'd need to be making twice the median income, or around $167,460. Even more elite are those who find themselves in the top 5 percent of earners. In the U.S., you'd need to be making about $336,000 to find yourself in the top 5 percent, according to Census data.
Yes, Elon Musk pays taxes, but his payments vary significantly year-to-year, often coming in large bursts when he sells Tesla stock to realize gains from stock options, as seen with his reported $11 billion federal tax bill for 2021, a massive payment triggered by stock option exercises, contrasting with other years where he's paid little to no federal income tax due to holding appreciating stock, according to reports from Americans For Tax Fairness (2021), ABC7 (2021), ProPublica (2021), and CNBC (2021). His wealth, primarily tied to stock, isn't taxed until shares are sold, meaning he can have huge wealth growth with little income tax in certain years, but triggers massive tax bills when exercising options or selling shares, as detailed in reports from Americans For Tax Fairness (undated), CNN (2022), and The Guardian (2021).
High-Income Taxpayers Paid the Majority of Federal Income Taxes. In 2022, the bottom half of taxpayers earned 11.5 percent of total AGI and paid 3 percent of all federal individual income taxes. The top 1 percent earned 22.4 percent of total AGI and paid 40.4 percent of all federal income taxes.
Back in 2007 and 2011, Bezos didn't pay any federal income taxes, according to a 2021 ProPublica review of decades of IRS data belonging to America's wealthiest businessmen.
Jay-Z is significantly richer than Diddy, consistently ranking as the wealthiest rapper with a net worth around $2.5 billion, while Diddy's wealth, though substantial (around $1 billion or less depending on recent reports), places him second or lower, primarily due to his various business ventures like Cîroc, Bad Boy Records, and Revolt TV. Jay-Z's fortune stems from his diverse portfolio including Roc Nation, Armand de Brignac champagne, and D'Usseé cognac.
Snoop Lion – formerly known as Snoop Dogg – recently settled his IRS debt. Snoop Lion owed a whopping $546,000 tax lien for failing to pay taxes in 2009 as well as 2011. Instead of taking advantage of various IRS debt solutions, Snoop Lion was able to pay his IRS debt in full.