"Our family can't make so much money since the monkeys started!" On December 20, the well-known anchor Huang Wei (network name: Wei Ya) was fined 1.341 billion yuan for suspected tax evasion, and some netizens complained. This huge number deeply stung the sensitive nerves of the general public, you know, "900 million sisters" Fan Bingbing was recovered and fined 884 million yuan for tax evasion that year, and Wei Ya easily surpassed Fan Bingbing, setting a record for the highest tax reimbursement in the industry.
After investigation, between 2019 and 2020, Wei Ya evaded taxes by 643 million yuan through various illegal means, and other underpaid taxes by 0.6 billion yuan. At present, weiya's multiple accounts on the whole network have been blocked, and the live broadcast business empire she has created has collapsed in an instant.
On the same day that Via was fined, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that he would pay more than $11 billion (about 70.0865 billion yuan) in taxes this year, which could be the largest tax the IRS has received so far if Musk delivers on his promises.
The two news are particularly glaring when viewed together.
Via paid $1.341 billion and was banned to avoid $643 million in taxes; Musk sold tens of billions of dollars worth of stock to pay taxes. "I don't get cash wages or bonuses from anywhere, and the only way an individual pays taxes is to sell shares." ”
In the past few weeks, Musk has sold nearly $14 billion worth of Tesla stock. However, as the CEO of Tesla, Musk's move has also affected Tesla's stock price into a "bear market", and at present, Tesla's market value has fallen by more than $200 billion.
Still, Musk is the richest man in the world.
The richest man also doesn't want to pay taxes
Some netizens joked that it was not to see That Wei Ya was fined 1.341 billion yuan, and Musk was so active in paying taxes?
In fact, Musk is not willing. After all, it is more than ten billion US dollars in taxes, which almost exceeds the market value of 90% of A-share listed companies. Such a large amount of money, Musk certainly does not want to pay.
Business Insider reported that Musk needs to pay $12 billion in taxes this year, which is calculated based on his Tesla stock holdings, the net investment income tax that must be paid, and the taxes to be paid to the California government.
The sudden surge in taxes makes it difficult for Musk to accept. After all, the taxes he paid in previous years are insignificant compared to this year's.
In June, data released by proPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, showed that Musk paid a total of $455 million in taxes between 2014 and 2018. In 2019, Musk's salary was only $23760, and in 2020, his salary was zero, which has been on the hot search, because the salary and tax are directly linked, it can be imagined how low Musk has paid taxes in the past two years. Many netizens joked that Musk's self-reduction in salary is a clever move to avoid taxes.
Now that tens of billions of dollars in taxes are paid at once, even the richest man, Musk, it is inevitable that "flesh hurts".
Musk is not a money lover. Other rich people buy mansions and yachts, but he has no fixed place to live and insists on renting a house. Musk had a Verme course, "wealth can be depressing." He resisted paying taxes on the grounds that he did not think it was reasonable.
On various public occasions, Musk has more than once opposed the imposition of a "rich man's tax", "they (the U.S. government) spend other people's money and come to you." According to Musk, he has paid a lot of taxes. "My marginal tax rate of 53 percent is not trivial. Taxes in the United States include asset taxes, sales taxes, inheritance taxes, and so on. ”
To this end, Musk even quarreled with the "authorities" in the air.
Not long ago, Musk was named "Person of the Year" by Time magazine in the United States, which gave Musk a very high evaluation. Yet U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren mocked on social media, "Let's change the rigged tax code so that the man of the year will actually pay taxes and stop making money from other people." ”
Musk replied that if you open your eyes for two seconds, you will understand that I will pay more taxes this year than any American in history. Don't spend all this money all at once... Oh, you're done spending.
In an interview with the media, Musk said that even if all CEOs give all their money to the government, it will not solve the problem. "It doesn't make sense to take the work of capital allocation away from those who do well in capital allocation, and to hand it over to an entity that does very poorly in capital allocation, the U.S. government."
In Musk's view, the U.S. government can continue to operate in the event of problems with capital allocation, huge debts, and even scandals. Rather than handing the money to the U.S. government, he preferred to "use the money to send humans to Mars and protect the light of consciousness."
Musk's remarks have been supported by many American netizens. Under Musk's tweet announcing the payment of $11 billion in taxes, many netizens were "upset", "the US government will only put money in its own pocket", "The US government will waste every penny they force you to pay".
Or is it more profitable to build a car?
Via has evaded 643 million yuan in taxes in just two years, and people can't help but sigh, how much money does she have to make? As early as 2020, someone had revealed that Wei Ya's annual income was 5 billion yuan, which was equivalent to the net profit of Nongfu Spring in 2019. Although Via responded that the statement was exaggerated, she also admitted that it sold more than 10 billion yuan in 2019.
The claim of an annual income of 5 billion yuan is somewhat credible to be investigated, but Via's catching up with the outlet of live broadcasting has indeed seized unimaginable wealth.
According to the 2021 China Forbes Rich List, Wei Ya and her husband Dong Haifeng ranked in the top 500 of the rich list with a net worth of 9 billion yuan. Tied for 490 with Via is 74-year-old "old mother" Tao Huabi.
Rao is so, compared with Musk's "encounter", the wealth creation ability of live e-commerce is a small witch.
As the pearl of industrial laurels, the automotive industry has always been an important pillar of the national economy and a large taxpayer. Private car companies such as Geely Automobile, Great Wall Motors and BYD have annual revenues of 100 billion yuan. Li Shufu, Wei Jianjun, Wang Chuanfu, and others at the helm of these enterprises are all worth a lot.
It is no wonder that the new car outlet has attracted a wave of new players to rush in.
Since Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal went public in the United States, the founders of the three companies have also risen in stature.
In the list of 2021 New Fortune 500 rich people released in May this year, He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Automobile, was worth 59.5 billion yuan and ranked 65th in wealth; Li Bin, founder of Weilai, ranked 78th with a wealth of 50.2 billion yuan; and Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Automobile, ranked 121st with a net worth of 33.2 billion yuan.
The smart electric vehicle track is hot, and the wealth of the leader of "Wei Xiaoli" has doubled. He Xiaopeng's annual wealth rose as much as 9 times, ranking first with the fastest wealth growth of 50 people, while Li Bin's wealth in 2020 was only 5.25 billion yuan.
Thanks to the catfish effect played by Tesla, the stock price of "Wei Xiaoli" once soared, and in the crazy period of last year's stock price, the value of Li Bin and Li Xiang even soared by billions overnight. The vigorous new car-making movement has even enabled many investors in new energy stocks to achieve financial freedom.
As the deserved king of this field, Musk's wealth has soared dozens of times. In 2020, Tesla's stock price rose more than 7 times, and in just one year, Musk's wealth increased by more than $150 billion, and its ranking in the rich list jumped from dozens to the top.
Not only the vehicle company, but also the energy industry represented by batteries has also become an important force in the rich list. For example, in the Hurun Global Rich List, the executives of the Ningde era occupy 7 seats, and this leading enterprise in the battery field has created 2 billionaires and 5 billionaires.
However, regardless of fame and value, it does not matter how much traffic, compliance with discipline and law is the first criterion. Otherwise, the ascent will fall heavily.
Author | Qin Zhangyong
Edit | Li Huanhuan