As Democrats attempt to figure out how to pay for Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan, one idea a number of lawmakers have coalesced around is a tax on the wealthiest people in the country, whose net worths begin with a b. Drafted by Senator Ron Wyden, the plan, released on Wednesday, would raise hundreds of billions of dollars from approximately 700 billionaires by requiring them to pay taxes on the increase in value of their publicly traded assets, like stocks and bonds, while non-tradable assets, such as real estate and closely held businesses, would be taxed when they are sold. One of the many reasons the proposal is more than fair is because despite being the richest people in the country by a long shot, many billionaires often pay nothing in income taxes; unlike working stiffs who actually have to collect a paycheck, these people live off of the skyrocketing value of their assets, which they currently don’t have to pay taxes on until said assets are sold. (The ultrarich are able to pay for their toys, while holding on to their extremely valuable stock and taking $1 salaries to further avoid taxes, by repeatedly taking out loans with single-digit interest rates that the IRS does not consider income, a process dubbed “buy, borrow, die.”) Which is how, for example, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, the richest people in the world, have been able to get away with paying zero dollars and zero cents in income taxes in some years, and, in the case of Musk, a laughable $68,000 in 2015 and $65,000 in 2017.
Given that Musk paid nothing in income taxes in 2018 and, as of yesterday, was worth $287 billion, you might think that he’d reflect on his situation and say, “You know what? This is fine. The tax won’t affect my life in any way whatsoever, but it would help millions of people who make less money over the course of their entire lives than I do in a single day. So go for it—make me pay my fair share.” But...surprise! Instead, he’s thrown a predictable hissy fit over the whole thing.
Per Insider:
Musk’s initial tweet was in response to a template another user had posted with the suggestion that people send it to their senators or other members of Congress; the letter read, in part: “Although the proposal targets billionaires and not myself, the government of elected representatives have a track record of scope creep when writing new taxes. I anticipate that any new unrealized capital gains taxes will slowly make their way down to middle class retirement investments over the next several years. It will start with billionaires, then eventually millionaires, then the modest investments will get hit possibly within a decade.”
What we love about Musk’s endorsement of this idea is not just that, despite having more money than God, he can’t fathom the idea of having to cough up a little more cash than he currently does, but also that he has the audacity to try and convince middle-class people that Congress taxing his unfathomable wealth will ultimately hurt them.
Would Musk have to fork over a sizable chunk of change under the plan? According to The Washington Post, an analysis by an economist estimated that the Tesla founder could face up to $50 billion in taxes in the first five years of the tax’s implementation. But that number is significantly less scary than it sounds when you remember the guy’s net worth increased by $36 billion in a single day this week. So yeah, he can afford this and still have walking-around money left over.
Musk, of course, isn’t the only ridiculously rich person deeply concerned about the proposed tax. Per Politico:
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Elon Musk Throws a S--t Fit Over the Possibility of Being Taxed His Fair Share - Vanity Fair
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