Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is a lot like every other Democrat out there; she loves talking about subjects she knows nothing about. Yet, her legions of supporters will follow her every move and sentence as if they are gospel. So for her to speak out about America’s most widely recognized innovator and business owner, she is leaving herself wide open for an easy correction and a ton of egg on her face.
While speaking with a CNN interview last week, Sen. Warren claimed “You know how much he paid in taxes? One of the richest people in the world? Zero. And he’s not the only one. Jeff Bezos, right, another one of the richest people in the world, pays less in taxes than a public school teacher or a firefighter. And they do this because they’re only being taxed on income. They very cleverly make sure they have no official income. They just have all this stock that keeps building in value, building in value. They borrow against it. It’s just not right.”
This comment is just insane. This man is somebody who has openly admitted he took his pay in stock because he wants to keep the funding inside the company. He wants Tesla and SpaceX to have a healthy bottom line. This is crystal clear when even the media explains that he paid $0 in taxes in 2018 but paid $455 million in 2018. In late December he even claimed that this year would be the highest ever.
Musk seemed to take the comments in stride and fired off his own message via Twitter. “Will visit IRS next time I’m in DC just to say hi since I paid the most taxes ever in history for an individual last year. Maybe I can have a cookie or something …” Given his history with Sen. Warren and other Democrats, this is hilarious. Perhaps they truly should invite him in and let him get more knowledge about where his money was being put. Especially since his latest tax bill of $11 billion broke the record for an individual.
What Sen. Warren doesn’t see is the donations of stock the man has made to charities. She doesn’t see the programs he and his companies help fund in schools. The overall philanthropic mission the man has undertaken for himself and his companies. Like every other crooked Democrat, she’s worried about the tax bill and someone else paying more.
Never mind the recent light she and her fellow politicians have been painted in. The recent leaks of people like Nancy Pelosi’s stocks magically come in perfectly timed before big swings in the market. It’s almost like she has that advanced notice of the information that would constitute insider trading. Yet not a peep from Warren about her, or the other people who have been in DC for 10+ years who are now worth tens of millions of dollars, despite making a salary that pays just enough to make them a single position millionaire – IF they didn’t spend anything while in office.
So, what’s that mean? It means Musk isn’t the only one taking advantage of the tax, stock, and business laws the way they are currently written. He’s also not trying to hide it and does more philanthropy than his tax bracket will even give him credit for. Perhaps instead of vilifying him for this, she should either help change the laws for taxes, stock trading, and businesses for how they can pay. Or, she could try holding this man up as a national treasure for being able to climb to the top of the mountain, and, as such, he should be a hero for the kids across the nation. A symbol of what hard work and knowledge can get you.
