Tesla CEO Elon Musk Wants Billionaires And Millionaires To Pay No Taxes

Elon Musk is the world's second richest man. He even had the world's largest wealth a few weeks ago. According to progressives, the Tesla (TSLA) CEO, along with Amazon (AMZN) - founder Jeff Bezos, is a symbol of tax disparity in their push to have the wealthiest pay more taxes.

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Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) continue to accuse the rich of exploiting tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes.

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"Elon Musk didn't develop it on his own; he had massive investments from the government, from taxpayers, from those public-school teachers and minimum-wage employees who have been paying their taxes all along," Warren stated in answer to a query regarding her criticism of Musk in March 2022.

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"What we're asking is that when you reach the top, pay something in so that everyone else gets a portion," she explained.

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Musk, who has a net worth of $169 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of March 18, has continually rebuffed concerns about not paying enough taxes.

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"For those who are curious, I will pay almost $11 billion in taxes this year," the techie king tweeted in December 2021.

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Biden wants the wealthy to pay more taxes.

Taxation is still a sensitive topic for Musk. It's no surprise that he's just reacted to President Joe Biden's tweet about raising taxes on the wealthy. The Democratic president stated in his address that the wealthy must pay a minimum of 25%.

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"Hey, I think you should be able to be a billionaire if you can earn it, but you should simply pay your fair share," Biden tweeted on March 15. "I believe you should pay a minimum tax of 25%; it's just fundamental justice."

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Trump supplemented his tweet with previous assertions, such as, "You know the average tax billionaires pay? THREE PERCENT. No billionaire should pay a lower tax than a schoolteacher or a fireman."

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According to Trade Algo, the top 25 earners paid an average tax rate of 16%. According to Politifact, "among households earning $50,000 to $100,000 per year – the range into which many teachers and firemen would fit — the great majority pay effective tax rates ranging from 0% to 15%."

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Musk Wants to Get Rid of GRATs

Musk believes he pays considerably more than the 16% and informs Biden of this by responding to the President's letter. He even goes so far as to claim that he is the guy who pays the highest taxes in the world.

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"I paid 53% taxes on my Tesla stock options (40% federal and 13% state), so I must be raising the average!" joked the millionaire. "I also paid more income tax in 2021 than anyone in Earth's history and will do so again in 2022."

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Unexpectedly, Musk goes even further. He agreed with Biden that everyone should pay their fair share of taxes, but he is opposed to the legal strategies employed by the rich to avoid paying a lot of taxes.

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"I completely think that everyone should pay taxes and not participate in intricate tax evasion tactics," stated the serial entrepreneur. "I'd want to know how these other 'billionaires' manage to escape taxes so well!"

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Musk goes even further, advocating the abolition of a vehicle used by the wealthy to pass on their fortune to their descendants, considerably cutting the taxes they must pay. The Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts are what they're called (GRATs). Musk goes on to say that other comparable legal processes should be deleted as well.

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"We should get rid of GRATs, but maybe we should get rid of other things as well," the billionaire said.

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