Details have surfaced in America that show how little income tax America's billionaires pay.
Cheese ProPublica states that he had insight into the tax returns of some of the richest people in the world, among them Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett.
The same source adds that Bezos, the owner of Amazon, paid no taxes in 2007 and 2017, while Musk, the owner of the technology giant Tesla, paid nothing in 2018.
Bezos just announced how plans to go into space with his brother on the flight of his space company Blue Origin and that space flight is something he's wanted to do "all his life".
A White House spokeswoman called the release of these details "illegal", and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the IRS are investigating who was responsible for providing the information.
The site said it was analyzing a "vast amount of IRS data" on the billionaire's taxes and would release more details in the coming weeks.
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Although the BBC has been unable to confirm the claims, the figures have been leaked amid growing debate about the amount of tax paid by the rich and rising inequality.
According to the website ProPablica, the 25 richest Americans pay less tax than most American workers - an average of 15,8 percent of adjusted gross income.
Jesse Eisinger, a reporter and editor at the ProPublica website, told the Today program: "We were pretty amazed when we saw that you could reduce [taxes] to zero if you were a multi-billionaire.
"That's exactly what prompted us to dig. The ultra-rich can circumvent the system in a completely legal way."
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The site stated that "by using completely legal tax strategies, many of the super-wealthy can reduce their federal tax bills to zero or close to it," even as their wealth has grown over the past few years.
The wealthy, like many ordinary citizens, can reduce their income tax bills by making charitable donations and using money from investment income rather than earnings.
ProPablika, using data compiled by Forbes magazine, found that the wealth of the 25 richest Americans jumped by a combined $401 billion from 2014 to 2018 — but paid $13,6 billion in income taxes during those years.
US President Joe Biden has promised to increase taxes on the richest Americans in order to reduce inequality, but also to fill the budget for a massive investment program in infrastructure.
He wants to raise the top tax rate, double the tax on investment earnings for the wealthy and change the inheritance tax.
However, ProPublica's analysis concluded: "Although some wealthy Americans, such as hedge fund managers, would pay higher taxes under the current proposals of the Biden administration, for the vast majority of the 25 richest, it would not mean any significant changes."
One of the billionaires mentioned, George Soros allegedly also paid minimal tax.
His office did not respond to the BBC's request for comment, but said in a statement to ProPublica that Soros had not owed taxes for several years due to investment losses.
The statement also points out that he has long supported imposing higher taxes on the wealthiest people in America.
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'illegal'
Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, whose tax papers were among the documents, reportedly said the disclosure of the details raised concerns about a breach of privacy and that he would "take legal action" to find out who was responsible.
Research site ProPablica has written several articles about how budget cuts in the US IRS have hindered the enforcement of tax rules when it comes to wealthy and large corporations.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki says any unauthorized disclosure of government data is "illegal."
Lily Adams, spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, said in an email to Reuters that the case has been forwarded to the FBI, federal prosecutors and authorities in the US Treasury, "all who have independent authority to conduct an investigation."
U.S. State Department Commissioner Charles Rettig said he could not speak about specific taxpayers.
"I can confirm that an investigation has been launched into the allegations that the source of the information in that text is from the Internal Revenue Service," Rettig said.
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