The meme-obsessed founder of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, attempted to start a feud with Senate Budget Committee chairman Bernie Sanders on Sunday after the senator’s Twitter account called upon wealthy Americans to “pay their fair share” in taxes.
Mr Musk’s objection to Mr Sanders’s tweet came in the form of a reply quipping “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive,” before the billionaire CEO went on to ask the senator if he should sell more of his Tesla stock, which he did in recent days to satisfy US tax obligations as part of his bid to exercise other Tesla stock options.
“Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word,” remarked Mr Musk.
The CEO’s efforts to pick a fight with Mr Sanders is his second such attempt in recent weeks. He also attacked the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden, over a tweet noting that the only reason Mr Musk was paying any taxes at all was because he had chosen to exercise stock options; the Tesla chairman pays little to no income tax currently under US law.
Mr Musk created a Twitter poll last week questioning his followers whether he should sell Tesla stock. He previously indicated that he would consider doing so and donating the profits to fight world hunger, but there’s no indication he actually intends to do so with this sale.
Read more: yahoo
