So after some sustained pressure from the “pay your damned taxes” people, Elon has left the decision upto Twitter - Elon’s tax poll
I must admit to being conflicted on a number of fronts here,
I think SpaceX is an amazing project & have no idea how this would impact this (if at all).
Wont dumping $20b of Tesla stock onto the market cause it to tank & have further effects on the market?
He pays an extra-ordinary small amount in tax considering how much he is worth & yes that does bother me but I realize that most of that ‘worth’ is held in stock.
What does it say about his ethics that he leaves such a decision to Twitter as opposed to his own conscience?
It says nothing about his ethics.
It’s an experiment.
He is probabilistic in nature.
He merely imitates the universe.
He does not pay a small amount in tax, by the way, he pays far more than his fair share.
He, and high earners, carry the rest, when it comes to paying taxes, at least in the U.S.
High earners pay far more than their fair share, paying several times over what those that do not pay their fair share, pay.
Because, there are those that pay no income taxes in the U.S., because they do not work, or earn little, or do not report their earnings.
Those that do not work, earn little, or do not report do not pay in, but they take, and they are the ones that do not pay their fair share of income taxes.
Not guys like Elon who pay multiples of what middle class payers, pay.
Guys like him pay far more than their fair share.
I kinda agree about high earners & the amont they pay, although a few years back I paid more in tax than Amazon did in the UK, not so sure that that is a good thing.
I think it does say somethng about his ethics though. Your poetic allusions aside, he comes across to me as someone devoid of an ethical calculus of any depth. I think this was also on display with the whole coup in Bolivia thing too.
It’s the same math, that allows the cars he put out to drive themselves.
It may be poetic in some ways, but its math.
And regarding your claim, about the taxes you paid in the UK versus Amazon,
in order to prove that claim was not an idle boast,
you would have to show proof that you paid more than 492 million pounds in taxes to the UK last year.
Maybe you did, and if you did, the people of the UK, should thank you.
And if you did not, but Amazon did, thank them.
Tesla cars drive as well on private roads, as they do on public ones.
Any chance people are just jealous, and petty, when it comes to rich people?
The Gods Must Be Crazy.
All it takes is a coke bottle to get people to act jealous, and violent, if that is perceived as unequal wealth.
By the way, @BKR might point out that you are gaslighting.
I did not lament the progressive tax system,
I merely pointed out the fact that Elon Musk pays ways more tax than many others combined.
That is a fact.
Politics is the problem.
Guys like Elon and Bezos are playing by rules they did not create.
I am a capitalist but speaking of the UK specifically I do not believe that a system that allows some to hoard billions whilst others rely on foodbanks is a good system.
There simply is no need for it and whilst I agree with C.G I also believe that despite the failed politics allowing public education to erode and excessive greed to go unchecked billionaires have a responsibility to themselves to do something about it for the simple fact that history has shown us that when the people eventually decide to redress the balance it does not end well for those who have hoarded the wealth regardless of what a nice chap or chapess they are or how big their army is.
As has happened in much of Latin america we also cannot be certain that what comes afterwards isnt just as shite.
We see this already with the rise of far left politics , Bernie Saunders would have beaten Trump if not stitched up by his own party, Jeremy Corybn would have beaten Boris Johnson if he hadnt of been forced to adopt a second referendum policy by his own remainer MP’s.
The far left is a whisker from government and that is why if I was a Billionaire id be trying to not be part of the problem regardless of the laws.
There is only so much joy and happiness spending money can get you.
Elon is almost certainly on the autism spectrum , maybe Asperger’s so what makes him feel joy is unlikely to be the having money as much as it is the earning it.
I have a question for you, and this relates to something that @jnp and @BKR and I have been chatting about lately.
I point out a couple facts, in this case that in the U.S. the high earners pay most of the income taxes, and that therefore the popular soundbite that high earners do not pay their “fair share” of income taxes is false.
And then you respond by saying that I am “lamenting progressive tax systems”.
Why do people do that so much, do you think?
Meaning one party states a fact, etc, and then another party then infers that stating the fact is equivalent to holding this or that opinion, which is not what the original person said.
The claim was made by another poster, that high earners do not pay their fair share of taxes.
However, in actual fact, they pay more taxes than anyone else
Therefore, anyone who pays less taxes than they do, must not be paying their fair share either.
And that means no one is paying their fair share.
Logically, progressive tax systems are not concerned with fairness.
They are concerned with unevenly taking individuals property, and redistributing it.
That is not the same as me having an opinion that they are fair or unfair,
Just like me saying that alligators are not concerned with fairness, does not mean that I am saying that alligators are fair or unfair.
“However, in actual fact, they pay more taxes than anyone else
Therefore, anyone who pays less taxes than they do, must not be paying their fair share either.”
Is your opinion and not a statement of fact and can not be assumed to be true.
I don’t think it is. I support luxury taxes.
You are both entitled to your belief about what is “fair”
That is simply a fact, at least in the U.S.:
The highest 10% of earners pay 90% of all taxes paid in the U.S.,
Those high earners are the ones paying for 90% of all public assistance programs,
that pay for 90% all roads and highways to be built,
that pay for 90% of all medicare and medicaid programs,
and pay for 90% of the costs to support our military.
Therefore, people that are the beneficiaries of those programs, but do not work, and therefore pay no income taxes, may not be paying their fair share, because they pay nothing.
But those that pay into the system, especially those that pay 90% of what is paid in, are paying more than their fair share, compared to those that pay in nothing at all, because they do not work, and did not work previously (meaning they never paid in, but get or take the benefits).
So back to the point of the popular soundbite that high earners do not pay their fair share being false.
It is false because people that pay into the system, cannot be paying in an unfair manner (unless they break the law) compared to those that do not pay in, and never paid in, but still get or take the benefits.
The correct and true soundbite would be, people that never paid in, but get or take the benefits do not pay their fair share.
But, all other statements about fairness are as absurd as applying adjectives about fairness to an alligator.
