Wait until they hear about what Bill Gates does these days.
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
#42Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
#44A tax avoidance scheme which also placated a twitter argument about his contributions. Unsurprising.
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Off topic but it's funny you called me a kid. I've been around long enough to see this game played for decades by the wealthy class.
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#45Regular 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 d…
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
All true and a perfectly valid model. But also try: If I were incredibly wealthy and obsessed with running the score up, I’d see any taxes or other loss of wealth as a threat to my ego. If my tax accountants came to me and said I could have a greater net worth by founding a charity optimized for my personal benefit, I’d happily shuffle money there rather than paying taxes. I think that’s also a valid model. I don’t h…
I think he's probably optimizing for both. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#47So in the same way that Bill Gates donates to his own foundation? https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/13/bill-gates-donates-20-billio...
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#48Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#49So in the same way that Bill Gates donates to his own foundation? https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/13/bill-gates-donates-20-billio...
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#50If I had money to donate I'd donate it to the charity I thought would be most effective at helping the cause I cared most about. If I had enough money to create my own charity it would be focused on the cause I cared most about. My giant ego and hubris would make it hard for me to come to the conclusion that a charity I created wasn't the most effective at its goals, even if that didn't happen to be the case.
It is a super common tax avoidance scheme. It is legal. Pretending it has anything to do with good-cause charity isn't based in reality however.
PS - And to confuse matters further there are billionaires who are donating a lot to charity, like the Gates Foundation.