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It was money from stock options from a previous employer I sold a couple years before. I paid capital gain taxes in the year I sold them and stuck part of the proceeds in an interest bearing savings account. When 2014 and 2015 rolled round, I would tap the account as i needed funds. My taxible in each year was only bout $25k, mostly from interest income and some dividends I took in cash.

My parents had a 900 acre cattle farm. In their later years, my dad no longer farmed and thus had no income. They kept all their cash in money market funds (which generated some income). They lived off their social security. They had a pretty nice balance sheet, but not huge income. Their income tax wasnt much, but they paid quite a bit in property tax. They eventually had to start selling off parcels to live on and pay taxes. They would then end up earning income on the gains and thus owing the tax man.

So…there are many rich and comfortable people who may have grown their assets quite large (paying income taxes along the way) who end up having little in the way of income.