Elon Musk may have to pay about $15 billion in taxes this year due to the massive sale of some of his TSLA stakes, but the U.S. government is likely to use a portion of his $15 billion contribution to support the fossil fuel industry. Considering that Tesla existed to help accelerate the world's transition from fossil fuels, this is an ironic example.
According to a report by the Institute for Environment and Energy, the U.S. directly subsidizes the fossil fuel industry by up to $20 billion a year, about 80 percent of which goes to oil and gas. The remaining 20% is allocated to coal. While these figures are already staggering, the institute emphasizes that its estimate of $20 billion a year is actually conservative.
Recently, elon Musk's tax topic has been a hot topic among many American politicians, and several politicians, including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, have expressed dissatisfaction with Musk and called him a "glutton." In musk's case, he argues that he actually pays a marginal tax rate of about 53 percent, and that with his recent dumping of TSLA stock, he will actually be the largest single taxpayer in the United States in 2021. Since then, and Musk has also made some sharp responses to the senator on Twitter.
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit, Musk noted that it doesn't make sense to delegate the allocation of capital to an entity like the government, which has a poor record of capital allocation. Musk believes that the government is essentially a company, but has a monopoly on violence and immunity from recalls. The statements have provoked a backlash online from some, many of whom have pointed out that Musk simply wants to avoid paying his fair share.
Many people have refuted the fact that the Obama administration has paid $465 million (about 2.9 billion yuan) in loans to help Tesla, but Tesla supporters believe that such an amount is just a drop in the bucket for the subsidies provided. to the fossil fuel industry. According to a comprehensive report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the fossil fuel industry currently benefits from $11 million (about 700 million yuan) per minute subsidies, which are worth up to $5.9 trillion (about 37 trillion yuan) for the production and burning of coal, oil and natural gas. 2020. Given that Musk is paying billions of dollars in taxes this year, it wouldn't be surprising if some of them are likely to end up helping the government prop up the fossil fuel industry.