Elon Musk Slams Bernie Sanders on Twitter: 'I Forgot You Were Still Alive' The two duked it out after Sanders tweeted about taxing America's wealthiest.
By Emily Rella
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Elon Musk is back at it on Twitter, except this time the target of his snarky comments and not-so-subtle insults isn't fellow Billionaire Jeff Bezos.
In fact, the Tesla CEO took to the social media platform to fire away at quite a (seemingly random) new public enemy — Senator and former Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
The Twitter riff started from a Tweet that Sanders posted on Saturday.
"We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share," he said. "Period."
We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 13, 2021
The Tweet came days after Musk sold around $6.9 billion of his own Tesla stock (around 4% of the shares he holds directly) after polling his Twitter followers last week about whether or not he should sell 10% of his shares in the company.
Related: Elon Musk Sinks Tesla Shares With Contentious Twitter Poll
58% of those who voted said yes.
By only owning stock in Tesla and not taking an annual cash salary or bonus, Musk does not have to pay personal taxes on his shares unless he sells them.
Clearly Sanders' quip struck a nerve with Musk.
"I keep forgetting that you're still alive," Musk wrote in response to the senator in one of two Tweets. "Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word …"
Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2021
Sanders, who is the chair of the Senate budget committee, has proposed several policies that would tax the country's wealthiest, most notably the top 0.1% which would include Musk, Bezos and other billionaires.
Related: Senate Democrats Unveil Plan to Hit 700 Billionaires With Major Tax Hikes
Musk has long opposed these proposals, including the Billionaires Income Tax that was proposed by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden (Oregon) in an effort to tax U.S. billionaires on their investments.
Musk continued to troll Twitter by responding to some of his follower's commentary on the interaction and on Sanders.
"The federal budget deficit is $2.7 trillion," one user wrote while tagging Musk. "The "Pay your fair share' thing is kind of a distraction because you can't find $2.7 trillion in revenue just from taxing billionaires."
"Exactly," the Tesla CEO responded.
He also called Sanders a "taker, not a maker" and responded a thumbs-up emoji to one follower who suggested that Sanders send an "itemized list" to Musk and other Americans that explains where the allocated tax money that's being proposed would go.
Musk's estimated net worth was $271.5B as of Monday morning.
