Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and founder, took to Twitter to complain about a plan to tax billionaires that was dead on arrival after his net worth soared past a quarter of a trillion dollars.
Oregon Lawmaker Ron Wyden, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, proposed to raise taxes on approximately 700 billionaires in the United States, to fund an expansion of healthcare and childcare as well as a child tax credit.
According to The Washington Post's estimates to finance these types of initiatives, Musk isn't willing to part with his huge pile of money that he owes about $50 billion.
He wrote that eventually they run out and then they come after you in a Monday tweet.
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For decades, the ultra-rich have avoided taxes by relying upon gains from securities that don't get taxed unless they actually sell them. This is something they aren't motivated to do often. ProPublica obtained leaked data from the Internal Revenue Service earlier this year and found that Musk paid zero income taxes in 2018.
Musk is likely to express anti-tax sentiment as he moves large parts of his company operations from California to Texas. This tax and regulation haven could increase his wealth.
Musk moaned that the tricksters would confuse capital allocation and consumption. It all comes down to who is better at capital allocation, entrepreneurs or government.
Recent research shows that the richest one percent of Americans earned about $50 trillion more than the bottom 90 percent between 1975-2018, a remarkable shift in wealth distribution.
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Simply put, Musk is the most wealthy person in the world because of how wealth is distributed.
According to WaPo, Wyden's plan would see the 10 wealthiest Americans who own $1.3 trillion pay $276 billion in taxes. The taxes that initially fall on billionaires' lifetime earnings would apply to subsequent payments. However, the amount of the tax payments will be much lower.
Musk's complaints will likely be forgotten, as the Democrats plan on taxing the wealthy is being criticized even within the Democratic party.
Experts suggest that billionaires could create more private companies to move their publicly-held stock and avoid Wydens' plan.
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It's a good idea. I also like the politics. Richard Neal, D-MA, chair of the committee, told the Post. The implementation of the plan could be a little more difficult, I believe.
In the US, taxing the wealthy has not been popular politically. It is a dire situation, however, due to the country's high wealth inequality.
Musk and his fellow billionaires making fun of attempts to level the playing field a bit is a bitter taste.
Musk is doing a lot in decarbonizing the automotive market. It seems that Musk is the first to ignore those who most need government support when it comes taxation.
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READ MORE: A Democrats billionaire tax would target the 10 richest Americans heavily, but an alternative plan is emerging [The Washington Post]
More Musk: Hertz orders 100,000 Teslas to rent cars
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