Billionaire, wannabe-playboy Elon Musk is complaining once again, this time about a proposed Billionaire Tax. Pushed by The Biden Administration, the taxation scheme aims to take more money from the obscenely rich and funnel funds back into public services.
The Billionaire Minimum Income Tax will start to bolt a 20% minimum tax on American citizens earning more than $100 million. In comparison, a single American bringing in over $523,000 have a higher tax bracket of 37% of income. So, why is Musk upset?
Elon Musk says Billionaire Tax would've killed his failed businesses
Via The New York Post, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk discussed the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax on Twitter. Responding to CNBC writer James Pethokoukis, the billionaire complained that the tax would've killed Tesla and SpaceX in the early 2000s.
Back in 2008, Musk, who earned his money by investing in PayPal, was facing bankruptcy with both Tesla and SpaceX. However, both companies eventually received enough funding to pull them out of their financial holes.
Musk claims that, if a Billionaire Tax existed back then, Tesla and SpaceX would've both failed to claw their way back. The venture capitalist discussed the tax on his personal Twitter account, claiming:
“Good point. SpaceX & Tesla would probably have died, since both narrowly escaped bankruptcy in 2008.”
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After years of subsidiaries
At the time of writing, Elon Musk has a personal net worth of around $290 Billion, if not more. Over the course of the two-year pandemic, the billionaire’s net worth skyrocketed. Since January 2020, Musk's net worth increased by $293.7 billion, some of which has fizzled away.
If Musk did have to pay the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax, the billionaire would have to pay around $50 billion in tax. However, depending on how the billionaire shifts his net worth, he should end up paying less or more by tax time.
It’s worth noting that Musk’s anti-taxation attitude only targets the negative aspects of it that apply to him. Elon Musk doesn't want to give up his own capital. On the other hand, the billionaire is more than happy to take frequent subsidiaries from governments which are built from taxpayer money.
Senator Elizabeth Warren explained that the billionaire tax will fund subsidiaries for the next billionaires. Warren explained that past taxes helped Musk grow into what he is now, and he should pay forward for the future.
“I’m happy to celebrate success, but let’s remember, Elon Musk didn’t make it on his own,” she said. “He got huge investments from the government, from taxpayers, from those public school teachers and those minimum wage workers who’ve been paying their taxes all along to get that business up and running and help see it through rough times.”
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