CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, recently went on a twitter rant about the Democratic 'billionaires tax' proposal. Netizens lashed out at Musk after he cried over the wealth tax, by complaining that his enormous wealth would be further taxed under a new proposal by Sen. Ron Wyden. He was slammed on the internet with many users explaining how he made all his money off government subsidies and now doesn't want to pay his fair share.
Musk is not at all happy with the Democratic proposal to tax the assets of billionaires like him. The proposal is aimed at raising revenue to pay for social supports under the Build Back Better Act. The plan is intended to impose taxes on tradable assets like stocks held by about 700 billionaires to fund an expansion of healthcare, childcare, and renew President Joe Biden's beefed-up child tax credit, reported the Insider.
Musk Isn't Happy
"Eventually, they run out of other people's money and then they come for you," he said earlier this week talking about the proposal. He argued, the fundamental problem is that government spends too much money — and he warned that the billionaire tax proposal could lead over time to tax hikes for more Americans.
He tweeted, "US national debt is ~$28,900 billion or ~$229k per taxpayer. Even taxing all "billionaires" at 100% would only make a small dent in that number, so obviously the rest must come from the general public. This is basic math."
Billionaires Not Contributing Enough to the Country?
The proposed Billionaires Income Tax would also aim Washington's taxation powers squarely at the country's billionaires, who have seen their wealth swell amid the suffering of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to AFP.
"Working Americans like nurses and firefighters pay taxes with every paycheck, while billionaires defer paying taxes for decades, if not indefinitely," Wyden said.
Outrage Over Musk's Comments
Musk's remarks caught the attention of economic justice advocates including Patriotic Millionaires—the coalition of wealthy Americans who believe they should be taxed at a much higher rate to help narrow the wealth gap, reported Common Dreams.
According to Erica Payne, president and founder of Patriotic Millionaires, "Elon Musk was born with an emerald spoon in his mouth, and when he needed more money for his various schemes, he turned to U.S. taxpayers for billions of dollars of subsidies and direct handouts."
Some netizens supported Musk while others told "this country made him rich, he owes us." One Twitter user wrote, "He wouldn't even have a company if weren't for government handouts...NASA should cancel all contracts with this seriously inflated ego." Another wrote, "Elon Musk is an enormous twatwaffle. He should at least pay back the $5B he took in our taxpayer dollars."
One comment read, "Without the help of Obama and government grants, this dude wouldn't even be a thing at all. don't bite the hand that feeds you." Another comment read, "They would actually save money by paying taxes. If they paid their fair share it would be cheaper than bribing all those representatives and senators."
"Tax them. If you can play "space race", you can pay taxes. Musk is no different. STFU and pay your FAIR share," one user shared.
This week alone Elon Musk's fortune grew by $36 billion, yet he goes out full blast to criticize a proposed wealth tax on billionaires. Kinda makes you want to tax him a whole lot more, doesn't it?
— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) October 26, 2021
