Billionaire Tax Dispute: Musk Says Plans to Use Money For Mars Mission, Sparks Twitterstorm

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is estimated by Forbes to be the world's richest person. He is also one of the US magnates who could be affected by the Democrats' billionaire tax proposal - and one of those who has already voiced discontent over the plan.

Elon Musk has revealed that he plans to use the money the Democrats would tax, should their "billionaire tax" proposal be greenlighted, to "get humanity to Mars" and "preserve the light of consciousness".

He shared his spending plans in response to a tweet by Washington Post reporter Christian Davenport, who noted that the tax bills of Musk and Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos could pay for a mission to Mars.

My plan is to use the money to get humanity to Mars and preserve the light of consciousness

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2021

Musk is one of the most vocal critics of the Democratic plan to tax the rich, as he's already taken to Twitter several times to blast the proposal.

"Eventually, they run out of other people's money and then they come for you", the billionaire tweeted on Wednesday, responding to one user.

According to Musk, the problem is about the "spending", not about the income of the wealthy.

"Even taxing all 'billionaires' at 100% would only make a small dent in that number, so obviously the rest must come from the general public. This is basic math. Spending is the real problem", he continued on Thursday.

US national debt is ~$28,900 billion or ~$229k per taxpayer.

Even taxing all “billionaires” at 100% would only make a small dent in that number, so obviously the rest must come from the general public. This is basic math.

Spending is the real problem.https://t.co/1EwWyqdVsT

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2021

Musk's grievances over the "Billionaires Income Tax" have caused waves among Twitter users, some of whom stood with him, while many others blasted the Tesla CEO, yet again reminding him of his profits and how little, according to them, the billionaire would be affected should his earnings be taxed at a higher rate.

Elon Musk, who made $36 billion in ONE day this week, would owe just under $8 billion under my wealth tax proposal with @ewarren.

Yes, he and other billionaires can afford to pay their fair share so we can fund child care, universal pre-k, housing, and more.

— Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal) October 28, 2021

Sir are you talking about to get humanity to Mars.
So I suggest you please come in india and see how people survives in earth . Every day farmer dies . And you want life in mars.
😞😞

— Henna (@himansh70915170) October 28, 2021

The light of consciousness is also here on earth but it is being snuffed out because it can't afford food

— Adam Smith (@adamndsmith) October 28, 2021

Accumulation of capital without any other purpose than greed and with negative externalities is what we should be railing against.

Elon, your purpose is great & good. I wish that more people judged you by the content of your heart instead of the content of your wallet. 💙

— Pope of Muskanity (@RationalEtienne) October 28, 2021

Elon Musk didn't create poverty. He didn't create world hunger.

Elon Musk didn't create the world's problems.

Yes, the money he has could help.

But why hasn't the $ our gov't have helped?

They created this broken system and benefit from it.

— Johnna Crider (@JohnnaCrider1) October 27, 2021

Reminder the US military gets 4 times the amount of money every year that Elon Musk has made in his lifetime

— David Nagy (@DavidNagySFgang) October 27, 2021

Another billionaire who is also likely to be taxed under the Democratic initiative, former US President Donald Trump, slammed the proposal, saying it would exile all rich people from the United States.

"What country will be the primary beneficiary from a 'Billionaires Tax' or Wealth Tax?", he wondered. "Where will wealthy people and companies move to, leaving the United States high and dry? Most don't need to be in the US anyway. I know all of those very smartly run countries, and they are all thrilled by what the Radical Left maniacs are doing in Congress".

Trump also voiced concerns that he might be barred from running for president again should he follow his own advice and move to another country, so he noted that he will "just stick it out".

It might be too early for the nation's billionaires to worry, however, since the Democratic proposal is yet to receive the congressional support it needs to become an actual part of the US tax code. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has already voiced concerns regarding the plan, and another senator, Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), is yet to give her opinion on the plan. The party needs both lawmakers' votes for the "Billionaires Income Tax" to proceed, and even in the event of unilateral support in the Democratic Party, the proposal still faces criticism from Republicans.