Billionaire Elon Musk responded to a call by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) for the wealthy to pay their “fair share” by claiming to forget the 80-year-old democratic socialist was alive.
“We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period,” Sanders tweeted on Saturday, to which Musk replied, “I keep forgetting you’re still alive.”
He followed up by floating the idea of selling Tesla stock. Musk previously sold billions in shares after putting out a poll asking if he should sell 10% of his holdings, to which over 50% of people said yes.
The SpaceX founder said the previous sale of stock was in response to politicians and activists painting “unrealized gains” as “tax avoidance,” and that he intentionally upped his tax responsibility with the sales.
Musk, whose net worth is over $290 billion, has clashed with Sanders before, mainly in relation to taxes. In March, Sanders called on Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to pay more and claimed they were “immoral” for having “more wealth than the bottom 40% of people in this country. That level of greed and inequality is not only immoral. It is unsustainable.”
Musk responded by touting the work he has done through SpaceX to “help make life multiplanetary & extend the light of consciousness to the stars.”
“Space travel is an exciting idea, but right now we need to focus on Earth and create a progressive tax system so that children don’t go hungry, people are not homeless and all Americans have healthcare,” Sanders replied, adding that “inequality” in the US was “obscene” and a “threat to democracy.”
Social media users mocked the latest exchange between the liberal senator and billionaire, with some applauding Musk’s response, while others blasted his dig at his opponent.
“This is why Tesla doesn't need to do marketing,” author and ‘Dilbert’ creator Scott Adams tweeted.
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