Tesla and Space X founder Elon Musk criticized “excessive government spending” and expressing skepticism that action would be taken to “make more elaborate tax-avoidance schemes illegal,” in a response to a tweet by President Joe Biden (D).
“In all seriousness, I agree that we should make elaborate tax-avoidance schemes illegal, but acting upon that would upset a lot of donors, so we will see words, but no action,” tweeted Musk. “Those who will actually be forced to carry the burden of excess government spending are lower to middle income wage earners, as they cannot escape payroll tax.”
Musk’s tweets were in response to a tweet by President Biden that said, “It’s about time the super-wealthy start paying their fair share.”
A recent Tax Foundation analysis of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data from the 2020 tax year found that “the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid a 25.99 percent average rate, more than eight times higher than the 3.1 percent average rate paid by the bottom half of taxpayers.”
That analysis also found that “the top 1 percent of taxpayers accounted for more income taxes paid than the bottom 90 percent combined.”
A 2020 federal financial disclosure showed that Biden “reported total income of a little more than $900,000 since January 2019,” which was less than the $4.6 million reported in 2018, and the $11 million they reported in 2017, reported Forbes.
The latest financial disclosures found that the assets of Biden and his wife, Jill, “were worth between $1.09 million and $2.57 million” and that “the couple earned nearly $580,000 last year and paid an effective federal income tax rate of 23.8%,” reported Reuters.
In 2021, Musk tweeted that he would pay more than $11 billion in taxes that year, and CNBC reported that it estimated a $12 billion tax bill for Musk.
The Austin-American Statesman reported that Musk lives in a $50,000 “tiny home” in South Texas, near SpaceX’s launch facility, but “clearly spends significant time in Austin, where Tesla is building a $1.1 billion factory and where the company's official headquarters is now located.”
