President Joe Biden tweeted about billionaires paying their “fair” share. Biden claimed that the average billionaire pays on average 3%. Twitter CEO Elon Musk shared that he in fact paid 53% on his Tesla stock options adding that he paid more income tax in 2021 than anyone in the “history of Earth”.
Biden tweeted:
“Look, I think you should be able to be a billionaire if you can earn it, but just pay your fair share. I think you ought to pay a minimum tax of 25%. It’s about basic fairness.” With an image that reads, “You know the average tax billionaire pay? three percent. No billionaire should be paying lower tax than somebody working as a schoolteacher or a firefighter”
Elon Musk replied with some information disputing Biden and asking Community Notes to look into the 3% claim.
“I paid 53% taxes on my Tesla stock options (40% Federal & 13% state), so I must be lifting the average! I also paid more income tax than anyone ever in the history of Earth for 2021 and will do that again in 2022. @CommunityNotes, is the 3% number cited above accurate?”
Community Notes also corrected Biden’s claims directly under his tweet:
Musk then added he believes everyone should pay taxes and not avoid paying them. He added he was “curious” as to how these other billionaires avoided paying taxes.
“I certainly agree that everyone should pay taxes and not engage in elaborate tax-avoidance schemes. Would be curious to hear how these other “billionaires” are so good at avoiding taxes! We should get rid of GRATs, but maybe other things too.”
Biden wants to raise taxes on what he classifies as the wealthy, those who make more than $400,000 a year, a far cry from his example of a billionaire. Musk himself at least it seems isn’t trying to avoid taxes and is curious how people are avoiding so much in taxes.
According to WRAL, The White House posted a fact sheet days before Biden originally made the claim in February that shared the average tax rate for billionaires was 8% more than double what Biden had said.
It seems that Biden is trying to use sound bites to push forward his agenda on tax reform. He wants to increase the tax rate on those making over $400,000. Musk, who shared he has paid more than anyone else doesn’t sound like he wants to pay even more, and called Biden on what he saw was misleading.
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