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Elon didn't make his fortune in a vacuum. (Well, his rockets might operate in a vacuum, but you know what I mean.) If someone succeeds in a country like America, it is because they have benefited from the roads and schools and legal system etc. that the government has put in place, paid for by taxation. If Elon is more wealthy than most people, it means he has benefited more from these services than them, and thus it is natural to expect him to pay more. The question then becomes "How does society determine how much to bill Elon for?", and there are valid reasons to propose taxes based on income, or wealth, or consumption, or land, or some combination, or some alternative ways of generating revenue, such as only taxing corporate profit. Ultimately these practical questions are for the people and their elected representatives to answer, but if the answer is "Money in your bank account is taxed, but money in your non-profit charity's account isn't", then Elon is welcome to jump through that hoop to reduce the money that goes to the government. |