Joe’s shared some questionable content on Twitter —and was checked by the community.
According to a Fox News report, President Joe Biden shared a dubious “fact” on Twitter about how much America’s billionaires pay in taxes —and Twitter was having none of it.
“Look, I think you should be able to be a billionaire if you can earn it, but just pay your fair share,” Biden’s tweet read. “I think you ought to pay a minimum tax of 25%. It’s about basic fairness.”
Look, I think you should be able to be a billionaire if you can earn it, but just pay your fair share.
I think you ought to pay a minimum tax of 25%.
It’s about basic fairness. pic.twitter.com/oHgreYCdUz
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 18, 2023
Community notes flew in with this helpful gem: “This is incorrect. Avg income tax rate in 2020 was 13.6%. Top 1% of taxpayers paid a 25.99% avg rate, more than eight times higher than the 3.1% avg rate paid by the bottom half of taxpayers. It increased from 20.1%/2019 to 22.2%/2020”
Additionally, the world’s richest man and Twitter CEO himself, Elon Musk, weighed in on the claim, saying “I paid 53% taxes on my Tesla stock options (40% Federal & 13% state), so I must be lifting the average! I also paid more income tax than anyone ever in the history of Earth for 2021 and will do that again in 2022. @CommunityNotes, is the 3% number cited above accurate?”
I paid 53% taxes on my Tesla stock options (40% Federal & 13% state), so I must be lifting the average!
I also paid more income tax than anyone ever in the history of Earth for 2021 and will do that again in 2022.@CommunityNotes, is the 3% number cited above accurate?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 18, 2023
Musk continued: “I certainly agree that everyone should pay taxes and not engage in elaborate tax-avoidance schemes. Would be curious to hear how these other “billionaires” are so good at avoiding taxes! We should get rid of GRATs, but maybe other things too.”
I certainly agree that everyone should pay taxes and not engage in elaborate tax-avoidance schemes.
Would be curious to hear how these other “billionaires” are so good at avoiding taxes!
We should get rid of GRATs, but maybe other things too.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 18, 2023
More over at Fox News:
Biden's Twitter account fact-checked for dubious claim about the taxes billionaires pay https://t.co/lTSOPZoBS2
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 20, 2023