The 2024 US presidential election is on.
Candidates from both parties are now campaigning for their parties’ nominations. Among the Democrats, President Joe Biden was campaigning on June 17 in Philadelphia, Pa., his first rally since announcing his 2024 re-election bid in April.
The AFL-CIO trade union confederation and 17 other unions, which sponsored the meeting, officially gave him their support for 2024 on June 16. Biden, 80, announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election at the end of April, promising to return to workers their “dignity”.
In front of this audience, which he has won over, Biden wanted to be faithful to the image of the president of the unions, or "Union Joe," an image which he was able to build for himself for years with good relations with unions representing police officers, firefighters and other groups.
Tax the Rich
Biden struck a populist tone, echoing a popular theme among progressives: increasing taxes for the rich and big companies. While touting his administration's investments in infrastructure and advanced technologies, he said it is the time for the wealthy to "pay their fair share" in taxes.
"They paid at a lower tax rate than school teachers, than firefighters, probably anyone in this room. It's time they paid a minimum tax. I don't mind them being billionaires. Just pay your fair share, man," candidate Biden told this loyal audience.
He claimed that the billionaires, whose number has increased to 1,000 in the United States, pay some 8% of their earnings in taxes.
Candidate Biden then reiterated his call to tax the rich on his Twitter account.
"It’s about time the super-wealthy start paying their fair share," Biden posted on the platform.
This message caught the attention of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world with a net worth valued at $233 billion as of June 17, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
He initially reacted with humor, implying that it was not Biden himself who wrote the message.
"Please give him the password, so he can do his own tweets. Please, I’m begging you!" the tech mogul commented.
'No Action'
Musk then reacted on the merits of Biden’s proposal. For him, Biden's economic populism is not a surprise, because this is the election campaign. And during a campaign, the candidates make promises which will never become reality because, says Musk, of the pressure of the lobbies and in this case of the wealthy donors. To sum up, Biden's calls to tax the wealthy more are just words. They won't be followed by action. It's posturing, all talk and populism, Musk suggests.
"In all seriousness, I agree that we should make elaborate tax-avoidance schemes illegal, but acting upon that would upset a lot of donors, so we will see words, but no action," the billionaire argued.
The billionaire goes further and affirms that it is not the wealthy, through an increase in their taxes, who will pay for the additional expenditures of the federal government, but the average taxpayer.
"Those who will actually be forced to carry the burden of excess government spending are lower to middle income wage earners, as they cannot escape payroll tax," the serial entrepreneur argued.
The Tesla (TSLA) CEO and owner of Twitter is often considered, along with Jeff Bezos, the founding chairman of Amazon, to be the face of the very rich who do not pay enough taxes, according to progressive idols, like the powerful Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts).
"Elon Musk didn't make it on his own. He got huge investments from the government, from taxpayers, from those public-school teachers and those minimum-wage workers who have been paying their taxes all along," Warren said in March 2022, in response to a question about her criticism of Musk.
"All we're saying is that when you make it to the top, pay something in so everybody else gets a share," she said.
Musk has consistently dismissed criticism about not paying enough taxes.
"For those wondering, I will pay over $11 billion in taxes this year," he announced in December 2021, for instance.
