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44% tax rate is not too bad. Note that people with lots of money got their money by leveraging the system. A well run system is not cheap. The court system,

by ww520 10y ago

44% tax rate is not too bad. Note that people with lots of money got their money by leveraging the system. A well run system is not cheap. The court system, the legal system, law enforcement, the education system, welfare, defense, etc all cost money. The higher percentage tax is only fair to pay back to the system that generates the big gain.

taketaketake 10y ago
Asserting your right to the fruits of another person's success is super easy! Why bother providing anything but the assertion, I say. And apparently you as well.
frgtpsswrdlame 10y ago
Especially if you take into consideration how much Musk has personally benefitted from a well funded government. >Tesla Motors Inc., SolarCity Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, together have benefited from an estimated $4.9 billion in government support, according to data compiled by The Times. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-2015...
- abalone 10y ago
  And that's just direct subsidies! Don't forget that rockets, autonomous driving[1] and solar power[2] were developed by the government. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Renewable_Energy_Laboratory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Renewable_Energy_Labo...
- mason240 10y ago
  The idea that he personally used $593M, much less $4.9B worth of government services in 2016 is pretty silly. He is far from being the sole owner of those companies.
  - csallen 10y ago
    The idea isn't that he personally cost the government that much money in service fees. It's that, without those services, he could never have made his money in the first place.
- koreyb 10y ago
  Here is a good breakdown of that $4.9bn number https://electrek.co/2015/06/02/complete-breakdown-of-the-4-9-billion-in-government-support-the-la-times-claims-elon-musks-companies-are-receiving/ https://electrek.co/2015/06/02/complete-breakdown-of-the-4-9... Incentives for creating jobs & tax credits. Not bad compared to the $12 billion cost for the GM bailout and $4 billion+/yr for oil & gas subsidies.
  - nojvek 10y ago
    If you look at money invested, govt should have let GM go under the bus. Bailouts aren't a great long term fix. They just encourage shitty management
Consultant32452 10y ago
I think there's a big flaw in this argument, because it doesn't get applied universally. In my opinion people who would have starved to death or died from some medical problem except that the government stepped in and took care of them gained far more than Musk did. I'm not saying I know what Musk's tax rate should be, but the argument that it's somehow related to the benefits provided to him by government seems spurious. If that were the case then surely you'd support a pay-as-you go funding plan for all government services, right?

by ww520 10y ago

taketaketake 10y ago

Asserting your right to the fruits of another person's success is super easy! Why bother providing anything but the assertion, I say. And apparently you as well.

frgtpsswrdlame 10y ago

Especially if you take into consideration how much Musk has personally benefitted from a well funded government. >Tesla Motors Inc., SolarCity Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, together have benefited from an estimated $4.9 billion in government support, according to data compiled by The Times. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-2015...

abalone 10y ago
And that's just direct subsidies! Don't forget that rockets, autonomous driving[1] and solar power[2] were developed by the government. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Renewable_Energy_Laboratory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Renewable_Energy_Labo...
mason240 10y ago
The idea that he personally used $593M, much less $4.9B worth of government services in 2016 is pretty silly. He is far from being the sole owner of those companies.
- csallen 10y ago
  The idea isn't that he personally cost the government that much money in service fees. It's that, without those services, he could never have made his money in the first place.
koreyb 10y ago
Here is a good breakdown of that $4.9bn number https://electrek.co/2015/06/02/complete-breakdown-of-the-4-9-billion-in-government-support-the-la-times-claims-elon-musks-companies-are-receiving/ https://electrek.co/2015/06/02/complete-breakdown-of-the-4-9... Incentives for creating jobs & tax credits. Not bad compared to the $12 billion cost for the GM bailout and $4 billion+/yr for oil & gas subsidies.
- nojvek 10y ago
  If you look at money invested, govt should have let GM go under the bus. Bailouts aren't a great long term fix. They just encourage shitty management

Consultant32452 10y ago

I think there's a big flaw in this argument, because it doesn't get applied universally. In my opinion people who would have starved to death or died from some medical problem except that the government stepped in and took care of them gained far more than Musk did. I'm not saying I know what Musk's tax rate should be, but the argument that it's somehow related to the benefits provided to him by government seems spurious. If that were the case then surely you'd support a pay-as-you go funding plan for all government services, right?