Twitter’s proprietor has shot down the US president’s assertion that billionaires pay solely 3% of their earnings to the federal government
America’s richest man on Saturday took concern with President Joe Biden’s effort to promote voters on tax will increase by claiming that billionaires get away with paying solely 3% of their earnings, on common, to the federal authorities.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk pushed again after Biden posted a Twitter message arguing that the mega-rich aren’t paying their justifiable share of taxes. “You recognize the typical tax billionaires pay?” Biden requested, earlier than answering the query himself together with his 3% declare. “No billionaire must be paying a decrease tax than someone working as a schoolteacher or a firefighter.”
Musk replied, “I paid 53% taxes on my Tesla inventory choices (40% federal and 13% state), so I should be lifting the typical! I additionally paid extra earnings tax than anybody ever within the historical past of Earth for 2021 and can try this once more in 2022.” He then invited Twitter customers within the platform’s Group Notes program to weigh in on whether or not the three% determine was correct.
I paid 53% taxes on my Tesla inventory choices (40% Federal & 13% state), so I should be lifting the typical!I additionally paid extra earnings tax than anybody ever within the historical past of Earth for 2021 and can try this once more in 2022.@CommunityNotes, is the three% quantity cited above correct?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 18, 2023
Biden has repeatedly made the declare whereas selling his effort to boost taxes on high-income Individuals. When he made the identical assertion in a speech final month, PolitiFact identified that it was false. “Below in the present day’s legal guidelines, the 25 highest-earning billionaires paid a mean tax charge of 16%,” the fact-checking outlet stated. The group added that the majority academics and firefighters fall inside an earnings vary with efficient tax charges of zero to fifteen%.
Biden’s 2024 funds proposal requires elevating tax charges on people with earnings of greater than $400,000 a 12 months and married {couples} making over $450,000. He additionally has demanded a 25% minimal tax on Individuals with fortunes exceeding $100 million.
“Look, I feel you need to have the ability to be a billionaire in case you can earn it, however simply pay your justifiable share,” Biden stated. “I feel you must pay a minimal tax of 25%. It’s about primary equity.”
Musk countered, “I actually agree that everybody ought to pay taxes and never have interaction in elaborate tax-avoidance schemes.” Such schemes aren’t needed for low-income Individuals as a result of greater than 40% of US households pay no federal earnings tax.
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