The New Abnormal

Donald Trump Could Be Elon Musk’s Ultimate Cash Cow

THE NEW ABNORMAL

The billionaire stands to gain in a number of ways if Trump wins the election.

Opinion
Donald Trump could be a cash cow for Elon Musk
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images

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Elon Musk could benefit from a Donald Trump win in more ways than one.

The tech billionaire is already reaping huge benefits from government contracts—over the last decade, his companies have made $15.4 billion in government contracts—but according to writer and editor at The Lever, Lucy Dean Stockton, if Musk joins the next Trump administration, “he would also be setting himself up for a very specific little-known tax loophole that basically exempts government officials from paying income taxes, potentially for life.”

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Stockton wrote an in-depth piece on the loophole for The Lever, titled, “Elon Musk Could Get a Huge Tax Break From Donald Trump” and explains how it works to co-host Danielle Moodie on the latest episode of The New Abnormal.

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Still, Stockton told Moodie, “I think it’s worth noting that this potential tax break is something that Musk hasn’t even gotten yet, but he still managed to pay no income taxes for a number of different years.”

Plus! Gabriel Snyder, the editor in chief of The Fine Print, tells us about his recent piece on the seven steps to surviving election night. Step One? Turn off the TV.

“I’ve been a political junkie for as long as I can remember and watching the election returns was always a very exciting event, even sometimes when it wasn’t going my way. And the last few years I’ve noticed that those nights have become just anxiety attacks and I’ve really been thinking about how to prevent the news or at least reading the news from becoming such a mental health issue for me,” Snyder says.

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.

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