Dave Gilson explains how wealthy folks get away without paying much (sometimes, anything) in taxes. Back when my father worked for the Internal Revenue Service, it was a lot simpler. You just became a donor to the campaign of Richard Nixon. Then you lied and cheated outrageously on your taxes, doing things like claiming the entire population of Paraguay as dependents or overlooking 90% of your income. Then if you got caught, you called certain Nixon associates and they'd arrange for the I.R.S. to settle your case for a few cents on the dollar. The first time I ever paid taxes — a few hundred dollars — my father mentioned the names of three or four very rich Nixon buddies he'd been assigned as cases…cases which had suddenly been yanked out of his hands and either dropped or settled for peanuts. And he said, "Last year, those guys collectively made about ten million and you're paying more taxes than all of them put together."