Taxing all 938 billionaires at 100% wouldn’t stop the $40 trillion national debt, says Elon Musk. Bernie Sanders says tax them 5% and send you a check

Taxing all 938 billionaires at 100% wouldn’t stop the $40 trillion national debt, says Elon Musk.

Bernie Sanders says taxing them 5% cuts you a check The richest person in the world and the most well-known person leading the cause against creating more people like him have many differing views on taxing the ultrawealthy.

But now, Elon Musk and Sen.

Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), two men on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, are using the same math to make opposite arguments for how much billionaires should be taxed, and how that money should be allocated.

In Musk’s view, collecting every cent billionaires rake in pales in comparison to federal debt, which just hit $40 trillion and counting.

“Even if you tax every billionaire in America at 100%, it barely makes a dent in the national debt,” Musk wrote on X in 2023.

“In the end, the government will be forced to tax everyone to pay the debt.” Sanders agrees—but he’s not looking to tax billionaires for all their worth and he’s not trying to eliminate the debt.

Instead, he wants enough to give nearly three-quarters of the nation a nice check, offset cuts to federal health programs, and fund social services.

How many billionaires are in the country? Sanders, along with Rep.

Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), introduced a billionaire tax earlier this year and suggested there are only 938 billionaires in the country , who, combined, hold a net worth of $8.2 trillion.

Simple math would prove Musk’s logic correct: $8.2 trillion will barely plug a fifth of the national debt.

But that’s not what Sanders and Khanna are suggesting: The two put forward the “ Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act ,” which proposed an annual 5% wealth tax on individuals with a net worth of $1 billion or more.

Sanders estimates the bill would generate $4.4 trillion over its first decade.

And in the first year, that revenue would fund a one-time $3,000 check for every American in a lower- or middle-income household, defined as those earning $150,000 or less annually, or roughly 74% of the nation.