{"id":48656,"date":"2026-06-13T12:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T19:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48656"},"modified":"2026-06-13T12:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T19:55:11","slug":"trillionaires-shouldnt-exist-obscene-musk-milestone-spurs-calls-for-aggressive-wealth-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/06\/13\/trillionaires-shouldnt-exist-obscene-musk-milestone-spurs-calls-for-aggressive-wealth-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Trillionaires Shouldn\u2019t Exist\u2019: Obscene Musk Milestone Spurs Calls for Aggressive Wealth Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Everyone<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A poster attacking Elon Musk\u2019s wealth in a world of large-scale hunger is displayed on a bus shelter on June 11, 2026 in Tottenham, England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Leon Neal\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe level of wealth that Mr. Musk has reached requires human exploitation, wage theft, wage suppression, anti-competitive markets, monopolistic control, price collusion, inadequate tax systems, and corruption.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jun 12, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elon Musk\u2019s net worth surged past $1 trillion on Friday as SpaceX\u2014the rocket company he founded and controls<\/a>\u2014made its debut on the public market, prompting global revulsion and calls for an aggressive wealth tax to rein in out-of-control inequality<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMusk became the world\u2019s first trillionaire because our tax system shields the wealth of the ultra-wealthy from taxation<\/a> while requiring working to people pay taxes on every paycheck,\u201d said Igor Volsky, director of the Tax the Greedy Billionaires Campaign. \u201cToday\u2019s milestone should serve as a wake-up call to us all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Protesting<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A New Pinnacle of Oligarchy\u2019: Elon Musk Poised to Become World\u2019s First Trillionaire<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"As<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Elon Musk Becomes a Trillionaire, Report Highlights \u2018Darker Realities\u2019 of His Texas SpaceX Fiefdom<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnless we plan to cede control and agency over our future to a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals, lawmakers must pursue bold tax policies that actually meet this moment\u2014not just slowing the accumulation of extreme wealth, but reversing it,\u201d Volsky added. \u201cThat means passing taxes on billionaire wealth ambitious enough to make the ultra-wealthy less wealthy, reduce the stranglehold they have over our economy and democracy<\/a>, and restore the ideal that no one in America gets to buy their way to unchecked power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reuters reported<\/a> Friday that \u201cmost of Musk\u2019s wealth now rests with SpaceX, where \u2060he holds a stake worth roughly $866 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlong with Tesla<\/a> and the rest of his properties, his net worth will exceed $1.1 trillion when the stock begins trading Friday,\u201d Reuters noted. \u201cThe tally includes stock components that would vest over time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Musk\u2019s on-paper fortune could drop below the trillion-dollar mark if SpaceX\u2019s stock price drops below $135 per share\u2014which is highly possible, as experts argue the company\u2019s valuation is absurd\u2014campaigners said Friday that the milestone is an appalling product of a society that has allowed the mega-rich to dictate policy, funneling immense wealth to the very top while millions worldwide face hunger, violent displacement, and preventable disease. Oxfam<\/a> has estimated<\/a> that just a 10% tax on Musk\u2019s fortune could lift 800 million people above the extreme poverty<\/a> line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEighty-six of Americans are worried about the price of food. Elon Musk<\/a> is a trillionaire. These two things are deeply, inherently connected,\u201d said Erica Payne, founder and president of the advocacy group Patriotic Millionaires. \u201cThe level of wealth that Mr. Musk has reached requires human exploitation, wage theft, wage suppression, anti-competitive markets, monopolistic control, price collusion, inadequate tax systems, and corruption<\/a>. Mostly inadequate tax systems and corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musk\u2019s companies, including SpaceX, have relied heavily on and benefited massively from government contracts, subsidies, and research, while paying minimal taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times<\/a> reported<\/a> last year that SpaceX \u201chas most likely paid little to no federal income taxes since its founding in 2002 and has privately told investors that it may never have to pay any, according to internal company documents.\u201d As for Tesla, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found<\/a> earlier this year that the company \u201cavoided almost all federal income tax on over $12 billion of US income over the past three years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musk, whose immense wealth is largely stock appreciation that is not taxed in the US unless shares are sold, paid nothing in federal income taxes in 2018, according to<\/a> ProPublica. \u201cBetween 2014 and 2018, he had a true tax rate of 3.27%,\u201d the investigative outlet noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer Elizabeth Spiers argued<\/a> Friday that \u201ctrillionaires shouldn\u2019t exist,\u201d noting in a column<\/a> for The Nation that \u201cas Musk\u2019s wealth multiplies, he continues to prosper on the public dime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMusk\u2019s cosmic-scale wealth-hoarding is particularly abhorrent when you place it against the backdrop of how much damage he\u2019s done,\u201d wrote Spiers. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to quantify the scale of destruction and deprivation that he will never personally be held accountable for. How do you value the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people who have died <\/a>since Musk, in his words, gleefully \u2018fed [USAID<\/a>] into the woodchipper\u2019? How do you value the lives of people who will die because DOGE<\/a> cut major biomedical research funding<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMusk has enriched himself via a rigged investment economy ensuring that those with the most contribute the least\u2014or in many cases, nothing at all,\u201d Spiers added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A poster attacking Elon Musk\u2019s wealth in a world of large-scale hunger is displayed on a bus shelter on June 11, 2026 in Tottenham, England. \u00a0(Photo by Leon Neal\/Getty Images) \u201cThe level of wealth that Mr. Musk has reached requires human exploitation, wage theft, wage suppression, anti-competitive markets, monopolistic control,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2020],"tags":[249,2021],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48656"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48657,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48656\/revisions\/48657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}