The meme-obsessed founder of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, who usually gets laughs for his tweets, recently invited the wrath of netizens after he got into a spat with Bernie Sanders on Sunday. After the senior US Senator demanded the wealthy pay their "fair share" of taxes, the world's richest man had an "obnoxious" reply that has sparked furious debate online about governmental assistance in the growing wealth of billionaires. "We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period," Sanders, who is Senate Budget Committee chairman, wrote on Twitter. In an attempt to troll the 80-year-old senator, Musk responded by saying "I keep forgetting that you're still alive." Sanders has been proposing taxing the "the extremely wealthy", and Musk, having a net worth of $285 billion, certainly qualifies, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. I keep forgetting that you’re still alive — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2021 The billionaire CEO, who had already sold about $5 billion in shares, in the electric car company following a Twitter poll, further wrote, "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 Although Musk offered to sell stocks again, netizens were unimpressed. Many slammed him calling his tweet "vile" and asked him to simply pay his taxes. While some lashed out to him for being insensitive to any elderly man, others mocked him with memes and sarcastic tweets. Anyone who follows me knows that I am not a Bernie Sanders fan. However, I have mentioned in the past my respect for @elonmusk and the things he has done. However, this tweet from Elon is disgusting. Elon, you just guaranteed that I will never be a customer for a Tesla. — Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) November 14, 2021 A bored and high oligarch is tweeting insults at two US Senators. America is a spectacle. — Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 15, 2021 One of the most vile tweets in the history of this bird site. — Peter Daou (@peterdaou) November 14, 2021 One way to assess whether powerful people are actually also good people is how they treat the elderly, who have lived their own full and rich lives. — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 14, 2021 I used to think Elon truly wanted to best for humanity, with trying to make human life multiplanetary. But no, he's a troll with no empathy, just another side of the same narcissistic coin, like Trump. He perpetuates the worst in the crowds he riles up, and cares not for others. — Joaquin Baldwin (@joabaldwin) November 14, 2021 Bernie will always be a superior person to you and it cost him $0. Just integrity. Something you can’t buy, and you will never have. — Jax Austin (@JaxAustin) November 14, 2021 What a deeply offensive thing to say. — Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) November 14, 2021 Why is it so difficult for billionaires to just pay taxes — Liliana (@LilianaO__o) November 14, 2021 I guess your mom and dad should’ve bought you a better memory when they bought you Tesla, “genius” — Seton O'Connor (@HiMyNameIsSeton) November 15, 2021 I’m old enough to remember when Barack Obama and Joe Biden saved @elonmusk and @Tesla with a $465 million bailout. Elon Musk is only a billionaire because of government assistance. It is time for the billionaires to pay their fair share. — Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) November 14, 2021 Bernie will always be a superior person to you and it cost him $0. Just integrity. Something you can’t buy, and you will never have. — Jax Austin (@JaxAustin) November 14, 2021 Your entire business is built on government subsidies. And then you want to pay lower taxes than a minimum wage barista — Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 14, 2021 you have billions of dollars and you’re so triggered by a tweet about people paying their taxes? — Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) November 14, 2021 US Senate Democrats have unveiled a proposal to tax billionaires' stocks and other tradeable assets to help finance President Joe Biden's social spending agenda and close a loophole that has allowed them to defer capital gains taxes indefinitely, Reuters reported. According to CNN, Sanders has proposed an annual tax on the top 0.1 percent of US households, which he claims will raise about $4.35 trillion over the next decade and cut the wealth of billionaires in half over 15 years. "Musk didn’t mention in his prior tweets that he had millions of stock options that must be exercised before they expire in August 2022. He said in September that he was likely to exercise “a huge block” of those options toward the end of 2021," Fortune noted. The publication highlighted how in October, Musk said Tesla would move its headquarters from California to Austin, Texas, a state which levies no income tax.
