Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter.1 That's the latest news after two weeks of the richest person in the world toying around with various ways to take control of one of the world's largest social media platforms.
This is yet another example of what happens when our government allows people to become as rich as this: they try to grab power over other parts of our lives. The US needs a billionaires' tax now to stop these American oligarchs.
We already knew the US's tax code was rigged, but a recent ProPublica investigation of the richest 400 Americans' tax filings reveals that once you pass the $2-5 million tax bracket in the US, average tax rates actually decrease.2 And the very richest, like Musk, regularly avoid paying any income tax whatsoever.
Sign the petition: We need to tax the rich! Congress must pass a 20% minimum tax rate on all American households worth more than $100 million.
The only reason Musk faces income tax from last year is that beginning in November 2021, Musk began moving his Tesla shares around. Billionaires only face taxes once they start to pull their money out of the stock market. Musk may be paying $11 billion in taxes for 2021, but that sum doesn't include any taxes for the wealth he still holds in stocks.
And even though Musk himself paid taxes last year, his company, Tesla, avoided paying any US corporate taxes whatsoever, despite recording record profits.3
Luckily, President Biden just released a new plan for making sure billionaires pay their fair share, and he's beginning talks with Joe Manchin and other key swing votes on the proposal.4
By taxing just 0.01% of American households, experts estimate the tax will raise around $360 billion over the next decade. That's federal money that can go towards public programs that help us all — instead of lining billionaires' pockets and helping them control our everyday lives.5
A billionaire's tax is key to reining in the American oligarchy, and helps reallocate funds to where we sorely need them: healthcare, housing, the Child Tax Credit, and government initiatives to counter the runaway corporate power that enriched Musk in the first place.
It's the ideal time to slap a tax on Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and the rest of the billionaires. Congress needs to hear from you — President Biden's new billionaire's tax proposal must pass!
Sign the petition: Congress must approve President Biden's new billionaire's tax!
Sources:
1. New York Times, "Elon Musk, After Toying With Twitter, Now Wants It All," April 14, 2022.
2. ProPublica, "America's Highest Earners And Their Taxes Revealed," April 13, 2022.
3. CNN, "Elon Musk's US tax bill: $11 billion. Tesla's: $0," February 10, 2022.
4. Washington Post, "President Biden to unveil new minimum tax on billionaires in budget," March 26, 2022.
5. White House, "President's Budget Rewards Work, Not Wealth with new Billionaire Minimum Income Tax," March 28, 2022.