“… that you are still alive.”: Elon Musk is bullying against Bernie Sanders

“… that you are still alive.”
Elon Musk is bullying against Bernie Sanders

By Jan Gänger

Unsurprisingly, Elon Musk wants to pay as little taxes as possible. It is surprising, however, how infantile the richest person in the world insults US senators for this reason.

Elon Musk likes to escalate via Twitter. His newest opponent: Bernie Sanders. The US Senator had tweeted over the weekend in view of the tax avoidance of the super-rich: “We have to demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period.” The richest person on the planet doesn’t think that’s a good idea. “I keep forgetting that you are still alive,” the Tesla founder etched in the direction of the 80-year-old.

The background: In the USA there is a discussion about tax avoidance and higher taxes for the super-rich. The income and wealth gap widened even further in the Corona crisis.

The multi-billionaire, whose fortune “Bloomberg” estimates at around 285 billion US dollars, apparently has a short fuse. One example of many: He insulted a rescue diver of the cave drama in Thailand in 2018 as a “pedophile guy”. Musk had previously suggested using a mini-submarine built by his space company, SpaceX. The rescue management refused the offer because the boat was not suitable. “He can push his submarine where it hurts,” said the British diver.

But not only rejections by professionals make Musk mad. Demand for higher taxes do the same. “Would you like me to sell more shares? Just say so,” Musk poisoned in the direction of Sanders.

Last week, Musk sold Tesla shares for the first time in years – and he has to pay tax on the profits. Forbes estimates the proceeds at around $ 23 billion and the taxes due at a whopping $ 15 billion.

Lucrative options

There is no altruism behind this, however. Musk sold the shares only to redeem lucrative stock options. As Tesla boss, he does not receive a fixed salary, nor does he get bonus payments. His compensation consists solely of performance-based stock options – i.e. the right to buy Tesla shares up to a certain point in time at a fixed price. However, he is only allowed to exercise these options if Tesla achieves previously agreed targets, such as the market value.

In 2012, Tesla granted Musk the right to buy 22.8 million shares for 6.24 US dollars each – redeem by August 2022. At that time, one Tesla share cost less than six dollars, now one is worth more than 1000 dollars. That said, Musk can buy a block of shares for $ 145 million, which is currently worth nearly $ 23 billion. When you pull the option, taxes in the billions are due.

Sanders is an icon of the left. The Vermont State Senator describes himself as a “Democratic Socialist”. He is not a member of President Joe Biden’s Democrats, but works closely with them in the Senate. He became known worldwide for his candidacy in the primary elections against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

As chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Sanders is partnering with Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, who is the driving force behind the “Billionaire Tax” call. It would hit the roughly 700 US taxpayers who have net worth more than $ 1 billion or who have earned at least $ 100 million a year for three consecutive years. You would have to pay taxes on price gains on securities in the future – even if they only exist on paper and have not been realized through sales.

Meanwhile, Wyden, head of the finance committee, had been tapped by Musk earlier this month. The reason was that Musk had put to a vote on Twitter before his stock deal whether he should sell stocks to pay taxes. Wyden had then written: “Whether the richest man in the world pays taxes should not depend on the results of a Twitter poll.” It’s time for a billionaire tax. For Musk that was obviously too much and reason enough to become vulgar: “Why does your profile photo look like you just came?”

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