American billionaire Elon Musk is doing his best to support former US President Donald Trump in his campaign to return to the White House. His pro-Trump political committee has spent $118 million so far, and has sufficient budget to spend tens of millions more, and almost all of these huge sums come from Musk himself, according to What the American New York Times reported.
The CEO of Tesla – a giant in the electric car industry – focused his efforts in supporting Trump in the swing states in general, and the state of Pennsylvania in particular, which he sees as the focus of the elections, and he even talks about going himself from house to house, to urge voters to vote.
The New York Times indicated that Musk has now surpassed Israeli billionaire Miriam Adelson, to become the second largest individual donor supporting Trump this election cycle, after billionaire Timothy Mellon, who has given $150 million so far to help Trump in his election campaign.
The American Political Action Committee has sparked controversy in recent weeks, due to Musk’s donation of one million dollars a day to a randomly selected voter from one of the swing states who registers to participate in the elections, in a frantic effort to push Republican voters to vote, according to what the American Forbes magazine reported.
Musk provided $43.6 million to the US Political Action Committee from October 1 to 16, according to files submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
This amount comes in addition to the $75 million that Musk has already provided to the American Political Action Committee as of last September 30.
The New York Times stated in another report published a few days ago that Musk has become “crazier” in his support for Trump, and will continue his campaign until Election Day, including appearing alongside the former president at his campaign rally in Madison Square Garden.
Musk founded two new companies with a political orientation close to Republican slogans, namely Group America LLC and United States of America Inc., which indicates that he may be trying to maintain his foothold in the political world at large. Long term, as Forbes reported earlier.
Perhaps the question that arises is why Musk is donating this huge amount of money to Trump, and what is the role of economic and financial interests behind this support?
A Democrat who changed his skin
Musk was not previously a Republican, but rather a Democrat. He strongly supported Barack Obama in his presidential campaign in 2007. He also donated millions to Hillary Clinton in her campaign against Trump himself in 2015. He personally criticized Trump in a 2016 interview with CNBC. ), in private conversations he described Trump as a “total loser” and said he voted for Joe Biden in 2020, according to Newsweek magazine.
What are the reasons for the dramatic transformation?
Behind the transformation lies tax exemptions, facilities for Musk’s companies, dreams of changing the universe that the man is chasing, a promise of a ministry, and first, before and after all, “money.” Although he donates tens of millions of dollars, he is waiting for billions in return, but how so?
Billions waiting
“He’s a once-in-a-generation industrial leader, and our broken federal bureaucracy could certainly benefit from his ideas and his competence,” Trump told Newsweek, praising Musk.
The compatibility between Musk’s ambitions and ambitions and Trump’s political proposals is most evident in Trump’s proposal to appoint Musk as “Minister of Cost Reduction,” as he said during a recent appearance on Fox News, “He is eager to do so.”
This role may make Musk eligible for a special tax break worth tens of billions of dollars, and according to a report issued by Rolling Stone magazine, one of the hidden provisions in the tax law may allow Musk to reap one of the largest personal tax breaks in American history if Trump wins the elections. The year is 2024, and Musk is appointed to this proposed government position.
According to tax and ethics experts who spoke to the magazine, there is a little-known provision in the tax code that may allow Musk to defer capital gains taxes indefinitely on any assets he may need to dispose of to comply with government ethics rules.
This special tax benefit, available only to federal officials, will be in addition to the significant tax cuts that Musk could receive if the new Trump administration works to reduce income taxes and other taxes on billionaires.
So Musk, who is currently the richest person in the world with a net worth of $269.8 billion according to Forbes, could earn billions more if he takes a government position in the Trump administration.
Democratic candidate Kamala Harris may not suit Musk to the same extent. During her 2019 presidential campaign, she called for raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 35%, and while Harris supported President Biden’s more moderate proposal for a 28% rate, she pushed for a larger increase.
Later, when accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 2024 US presidential election, Harris pledged to provide tax breaks for middle-class Americans, and promised that her tax cuts would help “more than 100 million Americans” while raising taxes on the rich and billionaires, she said. Newsweek magazine.
Buy, borrow and die
In 2021, less than a year after Musk cast his vote for Biden, House Democrats passed a Biden-backed “Build Better” budget package, which included an additional 8% tax on incomes over $25 million, according to what I mentioned the Inquality platform (inequality.org).
In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden added to Biden’s 2021 legislative tax mix a new proposal to impose a “billionaire income tax,” which would require the country’s billionaires to pay a tax on their investment gains when they become due.
A few months later, the Biden administration announced a tax on the wealthy called the “billionaire minimum income tax.”
Both Wyden and Biden’s proposals aim to close the long-term tax loophole (buy-borrow-die) that enables the wealthy to keep their wealth, by reducing what they pay in taxes, which is the loophole that billionaires prefer, exploit well, and defend with all force. .
This loophole allows billionaires to hold assets throughout their lives without paying tax on gains and profits, while borrowing against the assets whenever they need cash.
Musk’s history of borrowing against his Tesla shares clearly indicates that he understands how profitable this buy-borrow-die loophole can be.
Musk immediately began attacking Senator Wyden’s proposal to impose a tax on billionaires’ investment gains, warning his followers on the X platform that after the tax money collected by politicians from him and his fellow billionaires runs out, “they will come to you.”
Musk complained that the federal government was simply wasting too much money, declaring that if he paid less in taxes, he would “use the money to take humanity to Mars,” a pledge that may explain Musk’s recent assertion that humanity would never reach Mars without Trump and his cuts. Tax benefits for billionaires.
Trump and Mars
It appears that Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump in the 2024 US presidential elections is closely linked to his desire to significantly liberalize government restrictions, especially in the field of space exploration.
Musk has claimed on several occasions that excessive regulatory restrictions stifle innovation and paralyze what he sees as progress toward a multi-planetary civilization, a primary goal of his company, SpaceX.
In a series of posts on X, Musk expressed concerns about the impact of “over-regulation” on America’s future in space, saying, “Voting for Trump is like voting for Mars!” Never a multi-planet civilization.”
Musk’s posts on the issue appear to stem from regulatory hurdles SpaceX has faced in the past. These hurdles include delays in launch approvals and restrictions imposed by various federal agencies.
