Bernie Sanders disses Elon Musk’s wealth, space plans as he calls for ‘progressive’ taxes
Musk says he is 'accumulating resources to help make life multiplanetary'
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., hit back at Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Twitter Monday, saying the U.S. needs to focus on residents’ needs before it concentrates on space exploration.
The Independent senator said that included implementing a more progressive tax system.
Monday’s tweet from Sanders continued an exchange of posts from the pair, which appeared to begin when Musk responded to a Sanders tweet from last week that claimed Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owned more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans, characterizing that level of “greed” and “inequality” as both immoral and unsustainable.
In response, Musk noted that he is “accumulating resources to help make life multiplanetary & extend the light of consciousness to the stars.”
AMAZON CEO JEFF BEZOS SNUBS BERNIE SANDERS' INVITE TO HEARING ON INCOME INEQUALITY
According to Forbes, Musk had a net worth of $170 billion as of Monday.
The publication claims the billionaire businessman gained more wealth than anyone in the world during President Donald Trump’s tenure to roughly $184 billion from $12.9 billion, earning him the title of the second-richest person in the world.
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Tweets of this sort are not uncommon from the Vermont senator, who has advocated for policies that would redistribute wealth from the nation’s richest corporations, families and individuals.
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Recently, Sanders introduced the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act, which would raise the corporate tax rate by 0.5% for companies that pay their CEO 50 times their median worker (a 50-to-1 pay ratio). That increase would hit 5% for companies where the pay ratio is at least 500-to-1