Elon Musk Makes Lewd Remark About Senator Over Billionaire Tax Demand

Elon Musk has tweeted a crude sexual comment about a U.S. politician's appearance in yet another erratic post from the eccentric billionaire.

The world's richest man's latest Twitter spat started when Senator Ron Wyden responded to a tweet about selling Tesla stock with a new call to levy higher taxes on the super-rich billionaires.

He wrote: "Whether or not the world's wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn't depend on the results of a Twitter poll. It's time for the Billionaires Income Tax."

Musk's response was to seemingly question whether the senator from Oregon's profile picture (pp) was taken post-coitally, writing "Why does ur pp look like u just came?"

Musk, who currently uses the Lorde Edge Twitter handle, kicked off the weekend by conducting a popular poll on the social media platform, asking his 63 million followers for their option on his proposal to sell 10 percent of his Tesla shares.

He wrote on November 6: "Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?"

More than 3.5 million people responded, with 57.9 percent of voters by Sunday agreeing Musk should sell 10 percent of his stock, a result he had earlier promised to "abide by."

Selling 10 percent of Musk's 170.5 million shares could generate roughly $21 billion, based on Friday's closing.

Much of the world's richest man's wealth is derived from these shares, meaning while he does not receive a cash salary, he does not pay commensurate taxes when the stocks soar in value.

Wyden has led Democrats pushing for billionaires to pay taxes when stock prices go up even if they do not sell shares, a concept dubbed "unrealized gains".

Wyden, the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote in a 2019 statement: "We have two tax codes in America, one for the people who shop and work here where taxes are taken out once or twice a month right out of their paycheck, based on their wage.

"Then there is the tax system for the folks at the top of the economic pyramid who can to a great extent defer and defer paying taxes to the point where they don't pay for years, if at all. That's not right."

He added his intention to "unlock an estimated $3.8 trillion in unrealized gains by treating that wealth for the top 0.3 percent of taxpayers the same as wages for everybody else in the tax code."

This approach would likely affect the reported 724 billionaires in American, while this generated revenue could help finance President Joe Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, a key portion of his legislative agenda.

David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, suggests the poll's results could be good news for Musk.

He told Newsweek: "As he doesn't take a salary or bonus and has many personal loans backed by Tesla shares, he'd be sensible to start reducing his exposure and raising cash now, especially given the latest incredible rally that has seen the stock jump by more than 40 percent over the past month.

"After all, he really is very exposed to Tesla's fortunes, and we know how volatile the stock can be. Making this about the proposed tax on unrealised gains, and involving Twitter, is just Elon being Elon."

Morrison added Wyden's well-meaning plan should have a different focus, saying: "As far as the multi-millionaire Democratic Senator Ron Wyden is concerned, pushing for a 'Billionaires' Tax' or taxing unrealised capital gains are unnecessary complications, which will be made worse when people post unrealised losses and ask for a tax credit.

"I think he and his colleagues would do far better by putting some effort into simplifying the tax code.

"Perhaps by evening up the rates on income and capital gains taxes and slashing all the loopholes that benefit the wealthy. This is not just about billionaires, as there aren't enough of them to make much of a difference to the U.S. National Debt. It's about fairness in general.

"Remember, it was the billionaire businesswoman Leona Helmsley who was heard to declare: 'We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes.' The very idea of a billionaire tax is political grandstanding. Of course, politicians will never do the right thing. After all, who bankrolls these people in the first place?"

Twitter's reaction to Musk's crude response to Wyden's comment was divided.

Many were unimpressed by the billionaire's crass comment, with Linda Goldberg tweeting: "This tweet proves that all the money in the world can't buy class or self-esteem. Take some of that money and get yourself a therapist."

@greatsweetleaf added: "Imagine being a grown man who runs a publicly-traded company. And actually writing this. And then deciding to hit 'Reply'."

However, Twitter user Darthlitecoin believes the seemingly overwhelming criticism was a little unfair, writing: "The Lorde earned his $ fairly."

Newsweek has contacted Elon Musk and Senator Wyden for comment.

Elon Musk in late September tweeted a similarly off-color comment, when he quipped: "Am thinking of starting new university: Texas Institute of Technology & Science."