By Steve Goreham
Originally published in WND.
In a twitter battle last week, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders criticized Elon Musk for accepting billions of dollars in government support. The exchange erupted over Sanders’ new bill to impose a wealth tax on Musk and other billionaires. But most of the payments received by Musk’s companies came from electric vehicle and solar energy programs that Sanders, green advocates, and state governments established to promote green energy.
The coronavirus pandemic caused the stock market to plunge in February and March of this year. The subsequent market recovery between March and August increased the wealth of U.S. billionaires by more than $700 billion. Last week, Senators Bernie Sanders, Ed Markey, and Kirsten Gillibrand introduced a bill to tax wealth gained by billionaires during the stock market recovery.
The bill would place a 60 percent tax on wealth gained by billionaires between March and the end of this year. It proposes to use the money raised to pay health care expenses for other Americans. Analysts estimate that Musk would be required to pay a tax of $27.5 billion on his gains.
In response, Musk tweeted an image of Sanders with the comment, “Official Bernie Sanders Drinking Game! Every time The Bernster mentions a free government program, chug somebody else’s beer.” Sanders then tweeted a reply, “Every time Elon Musk pokes fun at government assistance for the 99%, remember that he would be worth nothing without $4.9 billion in corporate welfare. Oh, Elon just l-o-v-e-s corporate socialism for himself, rugged capitalism for everyone else.”
The $4.9 billion number is actually an old estimate that comes from a 2015 article in the Los Angeles Times. Payments and incentives were paid and continue to be paid to electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors and to SolarCity, companies founded by Musk. These subsidies continue under programs established by the Obama Administration, supported by Senator Sanders and other progressives, and state governments eager to promote green energy.
By 2015, Tesla Motors had received more than $2.4 billion in subsidies and tax incentives, a number that continues to grow. This includes over $1 billion in incentives to be spread over 20 years from the state of Nevada for the Tesla gigafactory. The factory produces electric motors and batteries for electric cars, and battery storage products.
Tesla also received about $1.4 billion from the state of California in tax breaks for electric car production, zero-emissions vehicle credits, rebates to buyers of electric cars, rebates for deployment of distributed energy, and job training reimbursements under the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program. The federal government chipped in with hundreds of millions in tax credits to buyers of Tesla cars and loans from the U.S. Department of Energy.
SolarCity gained more than $2.5 billion in incentives, with the largest portion estimated at $1.5 billion from the federal 30 percent tax credit for solar installations. The state of New York also provided more than $1 billion in the form of subsidies for a solar manufacturing facility in New York and property tax exemptions.
As a senator, Sanders voted for many of the policies that granted billions in subsidies and incentives to Musk and his companies. For example, Sanders voted for passage of the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, which boosted the solar energy tax credit from 10 percent to 30 percent of the cost of a solar installation.
Sanders also voted for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that provided tax credits of up to $7,500 to purchasers of electric vehicles. Tesla Motors sold 200,000 electric cars to buyers able to claim this credit.
Senator Sanders and presidential candidate Joe Biden support the “Solving the Climate Crisis” report that was issued in June by the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. The report calls for extension of the 30 percent tax credit that provided more than $1 billion to SolarCity. It also proposes a national mandate “to achieve 100% sales of zero-emission cars by 2035.” The report calls for billions of dollars in additional subsidies for green energy that would flow to the companies of Elon Musk and other green billionaires.
It appears that billionaires don’t deserve to grow their wealth except when they build green energy companies.
Steve Goreham is a speaker on the environment, business, and public policy and author of the book Outside the Green Box: Rethinking Sustainable Development.
Yeah, Dems want to tax the rich.
Meanwhile, they fought against COVID aid packages that didn’t increase tax deductions for rich NY and CA folks.
This is really bad style. Its known as ‘elegant variation’, avoiding using the same word twice out of the mistaken fear that its bad style to do so. You should simply repeat the expression and not try to avoid using the same word twice. Its clearer, more pointed, and reads better.
Thus:
Sanders scolds Elon Musk for taking Government subsidies that Sanders [himself] made possible.
These politicians and commentators:
(1) argue for tax incentives to shape people choices (tax breaks, huge differences in taxes over products, rebates on “clean” products, overcharges on “dirty” products…)
(2) argue that tax optimization is the same as fraud, and trying to pay as little as possible is stealing from “public services”, so anyone influenced by (1) is guilty, and any success of (1) is a crime.
I think we can conclude the advancing age of the Democrat political leaders is clearly showing. We can see (when they dare present him) Joe hairy leg Biden has passed his political sell by date. It now looks like Bernie is rapidly heading down the same road to dementia, if he thinks taxing stock gains while allowing allowing stock losses to be taken on the balance sheet’s chin, is fair.
Bernie and his ilk don’t care about fair. They’re just looking for more money to fund their socialist vote-buying giveaways.
Worth remembering (indeed, Orwell noted this some 75 years ago) that those on the Left have NO problem whatsoever in holding opposing views, depending on context.
Well done Bernie the Buffon for confirming that this still happens. We see it in the UK Labour Party all the time.
Of course the amount of CO2 released by his Falcons (44,000 launches needed to run his low oribt network) completely outweighs any (if at all) CO2 gains from electric cars.
Makes you wonder if he couldnt have got funding to NOT put stuff in space. Hmm, that sounds like an easy money maker! Getting paid to NOT do anything! In fact that is what wealthy landowners have been doing in the EU for decades. Being paid not to develop their land. The rest of us just go to jail if we build with out a permit.
NOw that is what I call privilege!