Bozo Behavior: Kyle Kuzma Gets Kriticized For Defending Elon Musk

Kyle Kuzma might have money, but he doesn’t have Elon Musk money. Still, for some reason, he feels the need to defend the billionaire and just how much he pays in taxes every year.

Source: Michael Reaves / Getty

The Washington Wizards baller retweeted a story from CNN on Wednesday, December 29 that said Elon Musk will owe $11 billion in taxes–the largest amount ever for an individual. As he retweeted it, Kuzma mocked the argument that “the rich don’t pay taxes.”

“ThE rIcH DoNt PaY tAxEs,” he wrote, implying that Musk paying billions of dollars in taxes–regardless of the actual percentages–proves that idea wrong.

Obviously, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the richest person in recorded history would face a tax bill that mirrors that, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. What Kyle Kuzma (and others making the same argument as him) fail to understand is that the complaint has always been that the rich don’t pay their fair share, not that they don’t pay taxes at all.

Earlier this month, Elon tweeted that he will be paying $11 billion in taxes.

Writer Anya Overmann helped put that sum into perspective, also mentioning a ProPublica investigation which found that Musk didn’t pay federal income tax for years.

“That’s 4.5% of your net worth,” she tweeted at Musk. “You paid 3.27% between 2014 and 2018, & no fed taxes at all in 2018. You made $36 billion in ONE DAY in 2021. Most US ppl pay 10 to 37% in fed taxes & up to 13.3% in state taxes. Stop vying for sympathy from people who pay and pay your fair share.”

Sure, $11 billion sounds like a lot–but 4.5% is a fraction of what the rest of us regular folk will pay in taxes every single year.

Of course, people were quick to criticize Kuzma, though it’s not surprising that a billionaire is okay with  another rich guy paying less than his fair share.