Taxing all 938 billionaires at 100% wouldn\u2019t stop the $40 trillion national debt, says Elon Musk. Bernie Sanders says taxing them 5% cuts you a check<\/p>\n
The richest person in the world and the most well-known person leading the cause against creating more people like him have many differing views on taxing the ultrawealthy. <\/p>\n
But now, Elon Musk and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), two men on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, are using the same math to make opposite arguments for how much billionaires should be taxed, and how that money should be allocated.<\/p>\n
In Musk\u2019s view, collecting every cent billionaires rake in pales in comparison to federal debt, which just hit $40 trillion<\/a> and counting.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if you tax every billionaire in America at 100%, it barely makes a dent in the national debt,\u201d Musk wrote on X<\/a> in 2023. \u201cIn the end, the government will be forced to tax everyone to pay the debt.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders agrees\u2014but he\u2019s not looking to tax billionaires for all their worth and he\u2019s not trying to eliminate the debt. Instead, he wants enough to give nearly three-quarters of the nation a nice check, offset cuts to federal health programs, and fund social services.\u00a0<\/p>\n How many billionaires are in the country? <\/p>\n Sanders, along with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), introduced a billionaire tax earlier this year and suggested there are only 938 billionaires in the country<\/a>, who, combined, hold a net worth of $8.2 trillion.\u00a0<\/p>\n Simple math would prove Musk\u2019s logic correct: $8.2 trillion will barely plug a fifth of the national debt.\u00a0<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not what Sanders and Khanna are suggesting: The two put forward the \u201cMake Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act<\/a>,\u201d which proposed an annual 5% wealth tax on individuals with a net worth of $1 billion or more.<\/p>\n Sanders estimates the bill would generate $4.4 trillion over its first decade. And in the first year, that revenue would fund a one-time $3,000 check for every American in a lower- or middle-income household, defined as those earning $150,000 or less annually, or roughly 74% of the nation.<\/p>\n In the years that follow, Sanders believes the revenue from the tax would reverse the $1.1 trillion in Medicaid and Affordable Care Act cuts, establish a $60,000 minimum salary for public school teachers, and cap childcare payments at 7% of household income for working parents. <\/p>\n \u201cAt a time of unprecedented income and wealth inequality,\u201d Sanders said in the press release, \u201cthis legislation demands that the billionaire class in America finally pay their fair share of taxes so that we can create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1%.\u201d<\/p>\n How much is the U.S. paying in debt service?<\/strong><\/p>\n The U.S. is paying nearly $1 trillion per year just to service the debt<\/a>\u2014a figure that has nearly tripled over five years and has surpassed what the government spends on Medicare. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projects interest payments will exceed $1.5 trillion by 2032<\/a>. America is, at an accelerating pace, borrowing money to pay interest on money it already borrowed.<\/p>\n Musk and Sanders are making two different arguments. Musk\u2019s framing casts a billionaire tax as a debt solution, and by that measure, it fails. Sanders\u2019s framing casts taxing billionaires as a redistribution mechanism, a way to put money back in the pockets of working Americans and fund social services. By that measure, a 5% annual wealth tax generating $4.4 trillion over a decade is significant.\u00a0<\/p>\n