Billionaire business tycoon Elon Musk, who was named Time’s “2021 Person of the Year,” referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts as “Senator Karen” after the Democratic lawmaker took aim at him on Twitter.
“Let’s change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else,” Warren tweeted.
“Stop projecting!” Musk fired back. He also included the link to a 2019 opinion piece on Fox News titled, “Elizabeth Warren is a fraud — Her lies about being Native American disqualify her from presidency, Senate.”
“You remind me of when I was a kid and my friend’s angry Mom would just randomly yell at everyone for no reason,” Musk tweeted. “Please don’t call the manager on me, Senator Karen.”
The uber-wealthy businessman, known for companies such as Tesla and SpaceX, tops Forbes’ billionaires list with a net worth of more than a quarter-trillion dollars, tens of billions more than Jeff Bezos, who is currently in second place.
“And if you opened your eyes for 2 seconds, you would realize I will pay more taxes than any American in history this year,” Musk also wrote in response to Warren’s tweet. “Don’t spend it all at once … oh wait you did already.”
Last month, Musk tweeted that he does “not take a cash salary or bonus from anywhere. I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock.”
According to ProPublica, “With the exception of one year when he exercised more than a billion dollars in stock options, Musk’s tax bills in no way reflect the fortune he has at his disposal. In 2015, he paid $68,000 in federal income tax. In 2017, it was $65,000, and in 2018 he paid no federal income tax. Between 2014 and 2018, he had a true tax rate of 3.27%.”