I don't get the stuff about borrowing. I think I'm missing something.
It seems too easy: you borrow money against your assets and then use the borrowed money to finance your life, and then pay down the loan with pre-tax money? Is it really that simple to avoid paying taxes? How do they pay down the loan with pre-tax money?
They pay down the loan (which will have some hilariously low interest rate because they're good for it) with income, and then - to rub salt in the wound - they get to write off the interest paid on their income taxes.
These guys do have substantial incomes, but through "charitable donations" (to charities they control) and interest paid, they often pay little or no income tax on it.
It seems too easy: you borrow money against your assets and then use the borrowed money to finance your life, and then pay down the loan with pre-tax money? Is it really that simple to avoid paying taxes? How do they pay down the loan with pre-tax money?