This reads like a hit piece, and a poorly executed attempt if so. This is standard practice and not uncommon. If we’re going to excoriate billionaires for putting their name on a foundation, shouldn’t Gates, DeVos, and others also be held to the same scrutiny? The article throws in an SBF comparison simply because both parties support the same brand of altruism.
Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
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Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
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Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#23The classic billionaire tax move. Donate money to your own foundation to work on things you want while getting a big tax break.
Donating $5.7B to save an absolute max (37% tax bracket; he's probably much lower with most income via capital gains) of about $2.1B in taxes doesn't make financial sense, unless you've got a plan to siphon off at least $3.6B tax-free out of the charity. Why do people think a $1B donation saves $1B in tax?
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#24The classic billionaire tax move. Donate money to your own foundation to work on things you want while getting a big tax break.
How does the tax break work? Don't you still have to pay income and/or capital gains tax on everything that goes into the fund minus a pretty small amount?
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#25A tax avoidance scheme which also placated a twitter argument about his contributions. Unsurprising.
And can’t be clawed back in bankruptcy. Great way to preserve wealth
You're by definitions giving it away.
It does nothing to preserve your own wealth even if it goes to a charity you control. It's no longer your wealth and unless you want to do something illegal its not coming back to you and can't benefit you.
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#26The classic billionaire tax move. Donate money to your own foundation to work on things you want while getting a big tax break.
Donating $5.7B to save an absolute max (37% tax bracket; he's probably much lower with most income via capital gains) of about $2.1B in taxes doesn't make financial sense, unless you've got a plan to siphon off at least $3.6B tax-free out of the charity. Why do people think a $1B donation saves $1B in tax?
it only doesn't make sense if you plan to individually spend that money on yourself. However once you have billions of dollars it becomes relatively difficult to spend that much on yourself. Therefore it becomes a place to spend money enacting the change on society that you want to see.
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#27This reads like a hit piece, and a poorly executed attempt if so. This is standard practice and not uncommon. If we’re going to excoriate billionaires for putting their name on a foundation, shouldn’t Gates, DeVos, and others also be held to the same scrutiny? The article throws in an SBF comparison simply because both parties support the same brand of altruism.
It's reporting facts.
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#28A tax avoidance scheme which also placated a twitter argument about his contributions. Unsurprising.
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Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Donating $5.7B to save an absolute max (37% tax bracket; he's probably much lower with most income via capital gains) of about $2.1B in taxes doesn't make financial sense, unless you've got a plan to siphon off at least $3.6B tax-free out of the charity. Why do people think a $1B donation saves $1B in tax?
it only doesn't make sense if you plan to individually spend that money on yourself. However once you have billions of dollars it becomes relatively difficult to spend that much on yourself. Therefore it becomes a place to spend money enacting the change on society that you want to see.
Sure, but that's a different motivation entirely.
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#30Regular mortals maximize their 401k contributions, use Backdoor Roth IRA, FSA, optimize for long-term capital gains, etc. Is this all legal? Absolutely. The point is - nobody likes paying taxes - people try to minimize whatever it takes. Billionaires do the same. Instead of opening Flexible Spending Account, they start a charity. Instead of using Roth IRA loophole, they start off-shore corporations. Basically, they do pretty much the same what you do, but on a different scale.