Bernie Scolds Elon Musk for Taking Subsidies Sanders Made Possible


Written by Steve Goreham

In a Twitter battle last week, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) criticized Elon Musk for accepting billions of dollars in government support. The exchange erupted over Sanders’ new bill to impose a wealth tax on Musk and other billionaires. But most of the payments received by Musk’s companies came from electric vehicle and solar energy programs that Sanders, green advocates and state governments established to promote green energy.

The coronavirus pandemic caused the stock market to plunge in February and March of this year. The subsequent market recovery between March and August increased the wealth of U.S. billionaires by more than $700 billion. Last week, U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders, Ed Markey and Kirsten Gillibrand introduced a bill to tax wealth gained by billionaires during the stock market recovery.

The bill would place a 60 percent tax on wealth gained by billionaires between March and the end of this year. It proposes to use the money raised to pay health care expenses for other Americans. Analysts estimate that Musk would be required to pay a tax of $27.5 billion on his gains.