Tell Congress: Pass a Billionaires Tax!

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, spent at least $277 million dollars backing Donald Trump and other Republican candidates.

He expects to get a good return on his investment. And early indications are, he will. In the month after Trump was elected, Musk’s personal fortune jumped by over $180 billion dollars — yes, with a B.

He stands to benefit even more during Trump’s presidency. Just two of Musk’s companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have accounted for nearly $20 billion dollars in government contracts over the past 16 years. Musk’s Starlink satellites have become crucial to the nation’s security, with nearly two-thirds of all active satellites now orbiting the Earth controlled by Musk.

Since the Citizens United ruling, billionaire political spending has increased more than 300-fold. Elon Musk’s unprecedented spending, and his control over a key communication platform, takes this corruption to a whole new level.

A billionaire shadow president like Musk is the inevitable and tragic consequence of the disastrous Citizens United decision that opened the floodgates for Big Money to dominate our democracy.

Tell Congress to pass the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax and tax the gains in wealth of billionaires like Musk. Let's ensure that the very wealthiest households pay income taxes every year, just like the rest of us.

-- Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich

Photo Credit: James Duncan Davidson
Copyright: CC BY-NC 3.0