Congress’ tax deliberations in 2021 have left Musk in a tax bind. He held options to buy additional Tesla shares that were set to expire in 2022. These options carried a strike price that was only a fraction of Tesla’s current stock price. A billionaire in Musk’s situation would normally wait to exercise these options – and realize a huge windfall – until just before the options expire.

But by 2022, the House-passed 8% surtax on incomes above $25 million could become law. If Musk waited until 2022 to exercise his options, his windfall could face a huge new tax liability.

This reality meant that Musk had no rational alternative other than moving forward and exercising its options in fall 2021, before the new surtax takes effect, thereby triggering an $11 billion federal income tax bill for the ‘year.

Musk did just that and tried to manipulate the outcome to improve his public image. He claimed to leave the decision of whether or not to sell 10% of his stake in Tesla to his owner. Followers on Twitter. And he used his 2021 tax bill to win a War on Twitterwith lawmakers like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who had pointed out how little Musk had paid in federal taxes in previous years. In 2018, as ProPublica had reportedMusk paid no federal income taxes while seeing his wealth increase by billions.

Musk didn’t just argue his 2021 tax payments in the court of public opinion. He also started tackle Sen. Wyden’s proposal to tax billionaires’ investment gains, warning his Twitter followers that once politicians use up the tax money they collect from him and his fellow billionaires, they will “come for you.”

The federal government, Musk complained, was simply wasting too much money. If he paid less taxes, Musk said, he would “use that money to get humanity to Mars,” a commitment that could explain Musk’s recent assertion that humanity will never reach Mars without Trump – and his tax cuts for billionaires.

In January 2022, after selling his Tesla shares, Musk started to accumulate shares on Twitter, the social media platform most connected to politics and public opinion. By April 2022, he had become Twitter’s largest shareholder, owning more than 9% of the company’s shares. The same month, he proposed buying Twitter outright for $54.20 per share. In October 2022, he completed the acquisition of Twitter.

The previous spring, at the same time he purchased Twitter, Musk and his supporters used the platform to claim that SpaceX and Tesla never survived if Biden’s proposed minimum tax on billionaire income had been the law of the land in 2008.

Musk also began making multimillion-dollar contributions to Republican causes in 2022. These contributions have only recently been revealed. They understood $50 million for Citizens for Sanity, a group linked to Trump adviser Stephen Miller. Citizens for Sanity used the funding to run attack ads against Democrats during the 2022 midterm elections.

That same year, Musk contributed to another Republican group, Building America’s Future. The exact amount of these contributions remains unknown, but we know that the group’s turnover pink of $42 million between 2021 and 2022.

The year 2023 will bring even more political engagement for Musk, including a 10 million dollars contribution to Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign.

Behind these contributions, some simple calculations. Musk prioritizes wealth accumulation above all else and deeply disdains paying taxes.

By early 2022, Musk had come to view the Democratic Party as a direct threat to his still-favorable tax treatment and to the future of his immense fortune. The House had passed an 8 percent surtax on huge incomes. The Senate was before a bill aimed at eliminating the billionaire buy-borrow-die loophole. In response, Musk would begin using his wealth and Twitter to turn public opinion against the Democratic Party and its tax proposals – and help Republican candidates in elections.

In other words, Musk began following the practice of most of his fellow billionaires. Like them, he was going to spend a lot of money on Asset And other republicans.

These billionaires put themselves, as always, before their country. Like their German counterparts in the 1930s, their thirst for wealth blinded them. Their addiction to wealth accumulation trumps any other path. We must, more than ever, stand up against them.