In a recent interview to the Wall Street Journal Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized the Biden administration’s decision to propose a higher subsidy on electric vehicles. The billionaire known as the “trying too hard to be funny” guy on Twitter, has previously been quite vocal about his disregard for “taxing the billionaires.”
He implied that by subsidizing EVs, the government is impeding progress, and the best decision would be to “get rid of all subsidies.” Biden’s Build Back Better Act is the key change that would bring forth the $12,500 tax credit to consumers who buy EVs built by unionized workers in factories.
That’s not all he hates about ethical work practices, as Elon Musk has previously been vocal about disliking unions too. In tweets that were considered illegal by the federal judiciary, as they go against American laws that protect unions and union members, Musk wrote, “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.”
Unionized EV manufacturers get a $4,500 tax benefit on top of an $8,000 credit. Meanwhile, Musk’s Tesla is non-union and has a much lesser tax benefit. Due to this benefit that would skip companies like Tesla, due to a very valid reason, Elon Musk actively proposes against the Build Back Better act.
He implied that the plan was not developmental saying, “This is written by Ford/UAW lobbyists, as they make their electric car in Mexico. Not obvious how this serves American taxpayers.”
Most of the Build Back Better act focuses on renewable childcare, paid family leaves, environmental justice laws such as a push for renewable energy among other several social projects, and the only retort the billionaire Elon Musk could come up with was,”just can this whole bill.”
The BBB act, which is still to pass in the Senate, focuses on taxing billionaires at a higher rate to source the spending required for the rest of the projects proposed in the bill. Regarding that, Musk said, “It does not make sense to take the job of capital allocation away from people who have demonstrated great skill… and give it to, you know, an entity that has demonstrated very poor skill in capital allocation, which is the government.”
