Politician, leader and fighter with trade unions

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In mid -December,Time , and Financial Times , announced the billionaire Ilon Mask by the man of the year. The editors praised a mask for launching missiles, plans for conquering Mars, creating electric cars - but forgot to clarify that he evades taxes, fights with trade unions, and his condition increased 6 times during the pandemic time. DOXA editor Vitya Ershov tells how super -rich avoid tax payments and what the cult of billionaires is dangerous.

The two largest world business publications in editorial columns listed truisms about the mask: he does not own the house, launches rockets into space, wants to fly to Mars - and he has a funny twitter. In complimentary articles, journalist_ki told in detail about his business and called a mask of a genius, but only caught a glimpse of scandals with the struggle with trade unions and tax evasion.

In the material of the Financial Times, dedicated to the award of the status of a person of the year, the word “taxes” is mentioned once - and once his tweet is mentioned with this word. In fact, Ilon’s relationship with taxes can be talked for a very long time.

In June 2021, the American media propulica, which “exposes abuse of power and betrayal of public trust from the government and business,” issued a large investigation about how American billionaires did not pay taxes - or pay them in a very small amount. The publication received data from an unknown (including the journalist ourselves) a source in IRS, US tax department.

From 2014 to 2018, according to Propublica, 25 richest American billionaires paid $ 13.6 billion, Musk itself - 455 million. It sounds impressive and spectacular if you forget that his condition - as well as the state of his colleagues - is even more impressive. Elon Musk, the richest man on earth at this moment, pays taxes 4 times less as a percentage of the usual household in the United States.

The publication uses the term “True Tax Rate): journalist_ki calculated how many taxes paid, based on Forbes rating about the growth of their condition. According to journalist_k, the tax rate for billionaires is on average only 3.4%. This is 4.3 times less than a bet for an average American family, which, according to Propublica, pays 14% of taxes.

If the calculations of the publication are correct, then the indignation that causes tax evasion is clear - the richest people of the planet (by random coincidence, almost all of them - white heterosexual trunks with American passports) give the state several times less than ordinary Americans. While Jeff Bezos employees urinate in bottles, because they do not have enough time to go to the toilet and get food in state coupons, Bezos buys an estate for $ 175 million and flies into space, while in 2007 and 2011 he did not pay a federal income tax center. It does not sound very fair.

Ilon Musk went a little further even his friends on the Forbes list - his tax rate for 2014-2018 was only 3.27%. But this is still more modest than that of the investor of Warren Buffete, whose tax rate at the same time was 0.1%. Recently, Ilon Musk said that he would still pay taxes after the publication of the survey on his Twitter. In fact, he had to sell the shares (and, therefore, give the percentage to the state), because otherwise they would burn by August 2022. In addition, he decided to sell the shares more than six months before the deadline, apparently, because of fears that taxes would increase. So in this case, he, apparently, was guided by the desire to leave as much money as possible.

Much IS Made Latly of Unrealized Gains Being a Means of Tax Avoidance, So I Propose Selling 10% of my Tesla Stock.

Do you support this?
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) november 6, 2021

This story is often presented as an example of his respectableness. In fact, it proves how much control over billionaires who have huge resources are missing. The fact that the richest man in the world pays taxes only by his “kind” will confirms that many processes in our world are broken. Paying taxes is the duty of super -rich, and not their favor. Imagine: you paid insurance, come to dentistry, and there after a few years they still agree to cure several teeth, but not all. You are unlikely to be happy with this.

How do billionaires evade taxes? Everything is simple: formally they have no money at all

They keep their condition in shares and property from which taxes do not have to pay until they sell it. On accounts in banks, they store as little money as it is possible not to pay taxes. And they live, unlike conventional American, due to loans that are taken secured by property. The benefit is obvious: the bank gives them loans at a very small percentage - for example , 3% or even less than 1%. If they had not evaded taxes and lived on a salary, and not for loans, they would have to pay 37% tax (by the way, Trump lowered this rate from 39.6%). It turns out that with the help of loans, billionaires receive How do billionaires return loans? They continue to occupy until their death, and immediately after the heirs sell their property - and pay all debts (but not taxes). More than 10 times, because the money received on credit is not counted as income, and therefore are not taxed.

In addition, billionaires operate the image of good guys who donate money for charity. They really often give money to formally “charitable organizations”, such as, for example, CEO GoPro, Nicholas Woodman, who transferred $ 500 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation - and did not spend a cent of the amount. Woodman transferred money to a fund operating according to a structure called DFA these are special funds with tax benefits where people can transfer money, and the fund will spend it, but only with the order of the donor. Sacrifiers can remain anonymous, and money can be on accounts for a very long time - if not forever.

In addition, the idea of philanthropy as an alternative to tax taxes is anti -democratic

Ideally, the funds that the state collects using taxes distribute the politicians who won the democratic elections. In such a system, voters may require that money is spent in a certain way: for example, on social programs. In the case of philanthropy, society has no control over expenses, so billionaires can spend them at their discretion and in accordance with their ideas about how to solve certain problems. The money that businessmen spend on philanthropy instead of taxes do not belong to them: they received it thanks to the work of many thousands of their cooperation, so they must return it back to the company.

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One of the foundations of the Ilon Mask cult is the idea that genies can be. What difference does it make that Musk received 4.9 billion dollars of state subsidies (although he opposed similar subsidies for other companies) and a five -year contract with the Pentagon, that its cooperation constantly receive injuries, if it is a genius who works for the benefit of mankind and which is only on the basis of his exclusivity that is not allowed by ordinary mortals.

But the goal does not justify the means. You cannot justify the fight against trade unions - that is, with your own cooperations who advocate the best working conditions and a fair salary - the desire to change society and a promise of a bright future. We have already seen utopian projects, within the framework of which not accountable charismatic leaders have made a lot of bad people to achieve good, in their opinion, goals. Not a single person achieves anything alone, any success is built on the efforts of thousands of people. Not one CEO will achieve anything itself, all of them depend on the people who work for them. And all workers deserve a fair attitude: a worthy workplace, free medicine and a comfortable standard of living.

The pandemic only aggravated inequality: coronacrisis led to the fact that the economy is now developing according to the model K - the rich are rich, the poor are poor. Every four seconds-that is, 21,300 people a day- die due to the consequences of inequality. The researcher calls harm to health and death that are caused to people due to inequality, “economic violence” (Economic Violence). 5.6 million people die annually in poor countries due to lack of access to medical care, at least 2.1 million people die annually from hunger, and by 2030 231,000 people will die annually due to the consequences of the climatic crisis.

These figures look especially terrifying against the backdrop of a sharp increase in the state of billionaires and, in particular, Ilona Mask, whose condition has increased by 5.8 times - from the prepandemic peak of $ 45.3 billion (February 22, 2020) to $ 264 billion (January 18, 2022). In general, the state of 10 richest billionaires increased by 70% since mid -February 2020, BBC write . CBS suggests that such a sharp increase is caused by an increase in shares amid expectations of economics restoration and changes in people's behavior during pandemia, when they began to use online services more often.

None of these people violate the law. All of them observe it until the comma, and this says only one thing - there is no failure in the system, it is originally conceived. American taxation is a consequence of the American political system, which in the 18th century was arranged in such a way as to benefit an influential privileged minority. To do this, in the USA there are a college of electors and a Senate with an equal representation of the States, because otherwise slave owners would have less control over the state. After more than 200 years, the party, which represents the minority of the population and the more white and conservative part of it than the average in the country, and the minority of Senatoro_k, blocks any changes in the laws (for this 40% of the vote) to continue to serve the interests of people whose views and actions are immoral. And this party does not only resist increasing taxes for super -rich, it reduces them.

We are accustomed to the fact that in most countries the last century is no longer inherited by power. Even the most stringent autocracies, including Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, are based on institutes. These countries seek to comply with formal procedures: elections are held in them, parliaments work, power passes according to the Constitution. We are used to the fact that this is how almost all states in the world work. None of us seriously believe that Maria Vorontsova will inherit the cabinet in the Kremlin, and the very thought that this could come to the head of Vladimir Putin, sounds unrealistic. It seems to us completely unfair when someone receives such a huge power in his own hands only because 30 years ago their father made a not too successful and outstanding career in the St. Petersburg City Hall, and then caught the eyes of an unpopular cartridge.

Money is the same power. With its help, billionaires lobby for the laws they need, evade taxes, become superstar and presidents of nuclear powers. When we are talking about billionaires, we often represent the centrists in sweaters of warm shades, such as Bill Gates, who donate a lot of money for charity programs. In fact, most of them are extremely unpleasant and conservative characters with disproportionately great power. For example, when only two people control the 2/3 of the country's largest newspapers in Britain, this is obviously not very good for the freedom of the press, which is considered the most important support of democracy. And the billionaires generally diverge from society in their views and, it seems, are not very worried about his well -being. A total of 43% super -rich against 68% of the company as a whole believe that the state must make sure that all people have food, clothing and housing, and 40% against 78% support the minimum wage higher than the official poverty level In 2021 in the USA - $ 12,880 (970,000 rubles) per year for households from one person. . That 60% of businessmen are offered to do those who cannot feed themselves and their family, working full -time, is not specified.

American billionaires evading taxes affect your life, even if you live in Barnaul

10 richest people in the world have earned from the beginning of the pandemic to January 2021 as much money as it would be enough to buy vaccines for each person on the planet. Billionaires and corporations have power not only over laws or jobs, but also over people's lives: so far only 8% African_OC are completely vaccinated, 55 corporations that did not pay federal corporate income tax, spent $ 450 million on lobbying and sponsoring political campaigns, and billionaires fly into space and analyze bridges for their own for their own SUPER HOUSE. By the way, an 11-minute flight into space leads to emissions of 75 tons of carbon dioxide per person-this is more than a trace, which is 1 billion of the poorest people in total . All these emissions remain in the upper atmosphere for several years, and affect the global climate change. The useless entertainment of very wealthy businessmen from another hemisphere affects the life of all people on Earth, no matter what point they are.

American billionaires are no better than Russian oligarchs: they also violate the rights of workers, thanks to which they have received all their wealth, use loopholes in laws, with the help of money affect the decisions of politicians and the adoption of laws. According to the UN, 1% of the richest people are responsible for 15% of all emissions atmosphere, against 7% of emissions of the lower half of the rating.

The contrast of Russian super -rich American colleagues reached the climax in Meme "How do you like it, Elon Musk?" This meme creates a false feeling that businessmen on another hemisphere are not the same as in Russia, but honest and responsible people. This is not so: they also harm nature, get benefits from inequality and do not think at all about ordinary people who experience difficulties with buying food and access to medicine and education.

We need to stop admiring the billionaires with good PR and begin to control both Russian and foreign people from the first percent

We allow billionaires to abuse our power and inherit it. The time has come to treat money in the same way as the authorities, and the billionaires are the same as the politicians: to establish tough and public monitoring of compliance with the rights of cooperation and the level of their salaries, to introduce inheritance tax for ultra -worn, to close all the loopholes in the legislation - and ultimately overlap with such taxes so that there are no more billionaires. All people were born equal - and no one should inherit the condition with nine zeros until we defeated hunger and the most deadly pandemic in 100 years.