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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

#281

Post by ClumsyPilot »

hbrn wrote: post #166
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. This is peak naivity - you are totally wrong. Exanple one - charity can make political donations. Example two - can hire lobbyists. Example three - it can buy voting shares in companies you want to control. Example four - it can hire your family members or friends and pay them salaries.

You're calling somebody naive but your statement is nothing but lies. > Exanple one - charity can make political donations Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign f…

Mybad, I conflated non-profits and charities. All political thinkstanks seem to be non-profits.

Evidently I dont understand the mechanism, but apparently charities can be used for political purposes:

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/16/two-anonymous-425-m...

Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity

#282

Post by c22 »

Volundr wrote: post #271
missedthecue wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legal, but it would not qualify for 501c3 tax exempt status.

Honest question, what would make it illegal? Charities pushing for social change is 100% a thing and I don't think it's limited to such a vague concept as "positive" social change.

It's limited to charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and preventing cruelty to children or animals.

I guess you could argue promoting cigarette use is "educational" or perhaps "religious" if a cigarette-smoking cult existed a la The Leftovers, but I suspect it would be a hard sell in today's environment, given the scientific and social consensus on the dangers of smoking, especially if your day job is selling the things.

Maybe you could make it fly by using the funds to buy cigarettes and gift them to the homeless?

Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity

#283

Post by yunohn »

knorker wrote: post #191
bradenb wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To that parent's point, < 1% has gone to charities which means the foundation is just spending money on the people that work in and own the foundation. I wouldn't need to get paid directly if I had a foundation that paid for everything I need or want.

If you have $1B you can already pay for everything you need or want. Donating it to your own non-profit, only to pay for your own expenses, is an extremely expensive way to "launder" that $1B into a tax deduction.

Makes total sense, that’s why poor people commit tax fraud, not rich people who have no reason to want more money!

/s

Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity

#284

Post by brookst »

snowwrestler wrote: post #128
brookst wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, sort of. I can use it to buy a Hawaiian compound and retreat that my nonprofit will use, and it might have living space and my taste in art on the walls, and the people invited for conferences might be my friends. At that point it comes down to regulators’ appetite and ability to enforce, and of course the worst cast is some fines. As long as the EV of fines for inappropriate spending that is caught is less tha…

The worst case is actually that the IRS takes away the charity’s tax-exempt status, thereby negating the whole strategy.

If we're talking about billions of dollars, the worst case is spending millions on lawyers to contest the status for years.

Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity

#285

Post by SQueeeeeL »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #239
jcheng wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not taking any equity is a pretty important distinction.

Even if they did take equity, I'm not sure that would be a problem. Charities and non-profits can make investments. For example, foundations have huge market investments. The distinction is that the owners can never cash out and put the money in their pocket. At most, they can take a salary with justification.

If you can't cash out of equity it makes a deeply insecure situation for everyone involved. It basically becomes a weird way to perform stock buy backs and would almost certainly be immediately exploited

Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity

#286

Post by yunohn »

twodave wrote: post #255
yunohn wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Our government has decided Who exactly is this perfectly unbiased, disconnected, non-influencable group of people you call “our government”?

Are you suggesting that the concept of a charitable contribution is only for rich people? My understanding and personal experience is that many people benefit from this mechanism, most of them not rich by any local standard.

I’m not suggesting charitable donations are bad, I’m saying the loopholes need to be fixed. Normal people can continue donating, that wouldn’t change.

Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity

#287

Post by boringg »

yunohn wrote: post #242
boringg wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Standing up for billionaire? Nope. Pointing out that the complaint is poorly structured in how the world works with a goal is to help strengthen arguments and promote better conversation on here.

You’re saying that drawing a line at billionaire wealth doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand that logic, we draw lines for everything - why is this is such a messy limit according to you?

>This is due to the idea that you cannot get that rich without exploiting people, taking money from government (while simultaneously talking against people receiving help),

I'm ripping this part of OP commentary apart since it essentially describes everyone and not billionaires. It's a lazy argument.

Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity

#288

Post by c22 »

yunohn wrote: post #283
knorker wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have $1B you can already pay for everything you need or want. Donating it to your own non-profit, only to pay for your own expenses, is an extremely expensive way to "launder" that $1B into a tax deduction.

Makes total sense, that’s why poor people commit tax fraud, not rich people who have no reason to want more money! /s

Poor people and rich people alike commit tax fraud every day. It's more of a personality issue than a wealth one.

Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity

#289

Post by sixQuarks »

kgwxd wrote: post #56
sixQuarks wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People should research how the Bill Gates foundation has given nearly $400, million to media organizations, organizations that will never say a bad word about gates. The man is literally bribing media companies, but go ahead and believe that it’s Elon who is the evil one

Always two there are. No more, no less.

what does this mean?

Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity

#290

Post by yunohn »

c22 wrote: post #288
yunohn wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes total sense, that’s why poor people commit tax fraud, not rich people who have no reason to want more money! /s

Poor people and rich people alike commit tax fraud every day. It's more of a personality issue than a wealth one.

> alike

Could you detail this?

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