Donald Trump’s pledge to give Elon Musk a top job could make the billionaire CEO eligible for a special tax benefit worth tens of billions of dollars.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk joins former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2024.and fulfills his pledge to appoint Musk to a top government post, according to tax and ethics experts’ review of long-standing statutes.
Last year, SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace and digital technology company, had contracts with 16 different agencies ranging from NASA and the Defense Department to the Department of the Interior. Tesla, Musk’s electric vehicle venture, contracted with the Energy, State, and Defense departments. Altogether, Musk’s companies were$3 billion across nearly 100 different contracts last year — and account for at least $15.4 billion in government funding in the past decade.
If Musk were to take a position in the cabinet, he could directly discourage investigations or grant preferable government contracts to his companies on a wide range of issues. Technically, such waivers can only be issued when conflicts of interest are determined to be unlikely to “affect the integrity” of the position. But practically speaking, the Trump White House would have unilateral authority to issue a waiver to Musk, Shaub said.
And there’s no limit on how large the tax break can be, meaning that it can be used to avoid paying taxes on millions, or even billions, of dollars in assets, so long as the money is quickly moved to a mutual fund or other qualifying account. Because of the major financial benefits involved, tax law only allows government employees to defer taxes on business divestments that specifically resolve conflicts of interest.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Elon Musk's PAC Is Buying Ads for Donald Trump on Elon Musk's XElon Musk donated $75 million this summer to the pro-Trump America PAC. According to X's ad disclosure data, the PAC purchased ads yielding tens of millions of impressions on the app owned by the billionaire.
Read more »
How Joe Biden Drove Elon Musk Into the Arms of Donald TrumpMusk's endorsement of Trump has fueled speculation that it may be influenced by regulatory pressures from the Biden administration.
Read more »
Elon Musk PAC for Donald Trump Isn’t Meeting Key TargetsAmerica PAC is also investigating whether its workers inflated their door-knocking totals.
Read more »
Watch — Elon Musk Tells Tucker Carlson He’s ‘All In’ for Donald TrumpSource of breaking news and analysis, insightful commentary and original reporting, curated and written specifically for the new generation of independent and conservative thinkers.
Read more »
Elon Musk to Attend Donald Trump Rally, Increases Hostility Towards HarrisIn a series of posts on X, Elon Musk ramped up his criticism of Kamala Harris while announcing his intention to attend Trump's rally this weekend.
Read more »
Elon Musk commits $70 million to boost Donald TrumpElon Musk, the tech mogul who is the world’s richest man, plunged more than $70 million of his personal fortune into helping Donald Trump and other Republicans win in November’s election, making him one of the biggest donors to GOP causes this campaign season, according to campaign finances disclosures released this week.
Read more »