Joe Biden made a Twitter post on Saturday in which he appeared to argue that billionaires are not contributing their “fair share” of taxes, prompting quick reactions by other users of the platform as well as the CEO, Elon Musk.
“Look, I think you should be able to be a billionaire if you can earn it, but just pay your fair share,” Biden said Saturday.
“I think you ought to pay a minimum of 25%. It’s about basic fairness.”
He posted a picture featuring a quote he gave during his State of the Union speech on Feb. 7.
“No billionaire should be paying a lower tax than somebody working as a schoolteacher or firefighter,” read the graphic, which claimed that “average billionaires” pay three percent in taxes.
Under Biden’s post was a blurb offering “added context.” It characterizes his assertion as “incorrect,” stating that in 2020 there was an average income tax rate of 13.6%, with the top 1% of taxpayers paying an average rate of 25.99%, while the bottom half of taxpayers averaged 3.1%.
Look, I think you should be able to be a billionaire if you can earn it, but just pay your fair share.
I think you ought to pay a minimum tax of 25%.
It’s about basic fairness. pic.twitter.com/oHgreYCdUz
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 18, 2023
Biden’s proposed tax plan would add $19 trillion to the national debt in just 10 years, reported Fox Business.
Musk offered his own insights on Biden’s claim, detailing what he described as his own average tax expenditures.
“I paid 53% taxes on my Tesla stock options (40% Federal & 13% state), so I must be lifting the average!” Musk wrote.
“I also paid more income tax than anyone ever in the history of Earth for 2021 and will do that again in 2022.”
He then questioned if Biden’s assertion of 3% is correct.
I paid 53% taxes on my Tesla stock options (40% Federal & 13% state), so I must be lifting the average!
I also paid more income tax than anyone ever in the history of Earth for 2021 and will do that again in 2022.@CommunityNotes, is the 3% number cited above accurate?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 18, 2023
BlazeMedia pointed out that Musk posted in 2021 about paying over $11 billion in taxes for the year.
For those wondering, I will pay over $11 billion in taxes this year
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2021
Joe Biden has proposed increasing taxes in the U.S. by trillions of dollars. He reportedly hopes to change the top income tax rate up from the current 37% to 45%, and introduce a higher corporate income tax than that of Communist China.
