What is this 'buy, borrow, die' strategy that everyone keeps talking about — and that billionaires like Jeff Bezos deny?

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You might have heard about a sneaky trick the wealthy use to avoid taxes.

The aptly named "buy, borrow, die" strategy was developed by Professor Edward J. McCaffery in the 1990s to describe how rich people get — and stay — rich by paying less in taxes (1).

Despite widespread chatter about the strategy, Jeff Bezos claims it's not a real strategy.

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"There's no truth to this 'buy, borrow, die' thing," Bezos told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin in May 2026. "I don't even know where this comes from" (2).