Elon Musk: Richest Person in the World
Ethan Franklin
1/4/22Everyone who's had access to any type of media recently should know the name Elon Musk. Musk has surpassed Jeff Bezos, former CEO of Amazon, to become the richest person in the world with a net worth of even $300 billion. He got to that number by owning large percentages in vast companies such as SpaceX, Tesla, and The Boring Company. With these companies growing and his wealth increasing, many are monitoring him and his money, especially the government. The coming of a new annual tax on billionaires’ unrealized capital gains has just been proposed, and the world’s wealthiest man isn’t a fan. Musk critiques the proposal, replying to a Twitter user that said “any new unrealized capital gains taxes will slowly make their way down to middle-class retirement investments over the next several years.” Musk replied with “Exactly. Eventually, they run out of other people’s money and then they come for you.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded saying this when asked about Musk’s criticism: “Our response to anyone who opposes is that we believe that the highest-income Americans can afford to pay a little bit more in order to make historic investments in our workforce, in our economy, in our competitiveness. And that has a net benefit on people across the country.” Elon suggested he would be better at allocating money than Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in another tweet: “Who is best at capital allocation — government or entrepreneurs — is indeed what it comes down to.” He added that “tricksters will conflate capital allocation with consumption.” The bill is expected to be included with a giant social spending bill that democrats are trying to ratify, but the approval of some democrats is hasty, with many saying it will be a challenge to implement it. Senate Republicans are condemning the proposal, saying it would choke innovation and entrepreneurship. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called it a “harebrained scheme”. The tax will most likely face legal challenges, according to the Wall Street Journal’s report. “Attorneys probably would argue that taxing capital gains that haven’t been realized yet falls outside the income taxes allowed by the U.S. Constitution’s 16th Amendment that don’t have to be apportioned based on state population”, the report stated.
Links used: https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-democrats-billionaire-tax-plan-annual-tax-bill-2021-10