4 ms·

How on earth is this a tax avoidance scheme? Complete nonsense. Sure, he doesn't pay tax on that money, he also loses that money. This is not a net gain for Mus

How on earth is this a tax avoidance scheme? Complete nonsense. Sure, he doesn't pay tax on that money, he also loses that money. This is not a net gain for Musk personally. He can't directly send money from the charity to himself, to him personally the money is more or less gone. This is less greedy then simply paying tax on the money and spending it.

jonfw 4y ago
If I gave you complete control over a billion dollars in a "charity", don't you think (if you were so inclined) you would be able to find plenty of ways to spend that money in a way that would benefit you? I.E.- I might buy a house, and then have my charity buy a huge amount of land around it as an investment, to effectively turn my 1 acre homesite into a 100 acre estate Maybe I'd have my charity teach at-risk children to ride horses, so I could build some nice pastures and have horses in my front yard. Of course- the professional landscapers who my charity hires to maintain the grounds would probably cut me a pretty good deal on doing my personal estate as well, while they're out there And maybe my executive assistant who runs my horse charity would pick up my dry cleaning now and again
- 93po 4y ago
  All of that combined for the rest of Musk's life wouldn't even get close to 1% of his total contribution.
  - jonfw 4y ago
    How about his children and his children’s children? You can inherit control of a foundation you know
    - 93po 4y ago
      If he had a dozen kids each getting the maximum allowed salary (~$300k) for 30 years, that's still only 1.8% of the total contribution.
binarymax 4y ago
Money is just something you trade for something you need or want. For most of us, we exchange money for stuff (food, clothing, shelter, transportation, toys, etc). At some point, if you earn enough, you exchange money for time. You no longer need a job, and can spend your days as you wish because the stuff that you need is covered. And then beyond that, when you are free and have no risk, what do you spend money on? There comes a point where ultra wealthy people spend it on power, control, and influence. If the money is taxed, it is no longer available to you to spend. But, if there were a way to shift it to a place where you could direct it in ways that you want for causes, power, or influence, then it remains effectively in your control. He didn't lose the money. He may lost his ability to use it to buy himself stuff, but he doesn't want stuff at this point.

jonfw 4y ago

If I gave you complete control over a billion dollars in a "charity", don't you think (if you were so inclined) you would be able to find plenty of ways to spend that money in a way that would benefit you? I.E.- I might buy a house, and then have my charity buy a huge amount of land around it as an investment, to effectively turn my 1 acre homesite into a 100 acre estate Maybe I'd have my charity teach at-risk children to ride horses, so I could build some nice pastures and have horses in my front yard. Of course- the professional landscapers who my charity hires to maintain the grounds would probably cut me a pretty good deal on doing my personal estate as well, while they're out there And maybe my executive assistant who runs my horse charity would pick up my dry cleaning now and again

93po 4y ago
All of that combined for the rest of Musk's life wouldn't even get close to 1% of his total contribution.
- jonfw 4y ago
  How about his children and his children’s children? You can inherit control of a foundation you know
  - 93po 4y ago
    If he had a dozen kids each getting the maximum allowed salary (~$300k) for 30 years, that's still only 1.8% of the total contribution.

binarymax 4y ago

Money is just something you trade for something you need or want. For most of us, we exchange money for stuff (food, clothing, shelter, transportation, toys, etc). At some point, if you earn enough, you exchange money for time. You no longer need a job, and can spend your days as you wish because the stuff that you need is covered. And then beyond that, when you are free and have no risk, what do you spend money on? There comes a point where ultra wealthy people spend it on power, control, and influence. If the money is taxed, it is no longer available to you to spend. But, if there were a way to shift it to a place where you could direct it in ways that you want for causes, power, or influence, then it remains effectively in your control. He didn't lose the money. He may lost his ability to use it to buy himself stuff, but he doesn't want stuff at this point.