[Sixstrings]

Senators Go After Eduardo Saverin, Facebook Co-Founder, For Dumping U.S. Passport, Avoiding Taxes

WASHINGTON -- Populist anger at Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's decision to renounce his U.S. citizenship -- a move that could save him hundreds of millions in taxes if his Facebook stock gains value after the company goes public on Friday -- has inspired two senators to propose legislation that could hit Saverin with heavy taxes and bar him from ever reentering the United States.

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) are unveiling the Ex-PATRIOT Act, which stands for "Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy," on Thursday. The bill would force anyone who "expatriates for a substantial tax purpose -- as judged by the Internal Revenue Service" to pay a mandatory 30 percent tax on future capital gains. The ex-citizens would also be turned back at the border if they ever tried to come back.

"This is a great American success story gone horribly wrong," Schumer told reporters Thursday. "Eduardo Saverin wants to defriend the United States of America just to avoid paying taxes. We aren't going to let him get away with it."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/17/eduardo-saverin-facebook-cofounder-citizenship-taxes-chuck-schumer_n_1524349.html

Wow..

Someone in Washington has cajones I'm impressed. I approve. "Good riddance and never let him back in the US ever again for the rest of his life," I approve, if somebody leaves here just to skip on taxes if AN AMERICAN renounces his citizenship -- then that should mean something, leave and never set foot here again. Ever.

Then they'd think twice, wouldn't they? Being an American should mean something. After renouncing citizenship, why let them back? We're a COUNTRY not some United Nations district you can wander in and out of at your convenience.

As for the proposed law, article suggests it will apply to Savern but I don't see how -- I thought Congress couldn't pass laws to apply to people after the fact? It would apply going forward, no?

EDIT: on second thought ok this is a bit harsh. Go ahead and tax them on the way out, but let them back to visit treating them the same as other nationals of their new home, as long as they pay the tax. Barring them for life even if they pay the tax that's a bit harsh but seems like that's what the bill proposes.

Not that the law will pass anyway.. not even the exit tax, much less the re-entry ban.. so this is all just venting on the Senate floor.

[Keith_McClary]

Facebook Slump Continues After Two Senior Executives Exit

The shares slid to $20.04 at the close in New York.
...
The most populous U.S. state’s $91.3 billion budget, signed by Governor Jerry Brown in June, counted on $1.9 billion in income-tax revenue when company insiders such as Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg exercise options, assuming a per-share price of $35.

2% of CA budget?

[Keith_McClary]

[Tanada]

CNN reports that Elon Musk has decided to eliminate any risk of Twitter "fact checkers" annoying him by purchasing 9.2% of the company and becoming de-facto the largest single shareholder of Twitter stock.

Elon Musk buys 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him the largest shareholder

New York (CNN Business)Elon Musk recently purchased 9.2% of Twitter stock, according to a filing Monday, making him the largest shareholder in the company.

News of the purchase sent shares of Twitter (TWTR) soaring 22% in early trading. Musk did not disclose what he paid for the shares, but his stake was worth $2.9 billion as of the close of trading Friday, and $3.5 billion after the spike early Monday.

Musk's filing did not disclose the purpose of the purchase or any plans for the company. But he has been a high-profile critic of Twitter policies in the past. Last month he said he was giving "serious thought" to creating a new social media platform.

"Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy," Musk tweeted last month. "What should be done?"

Any time an investor buys 5% or more of a company's shares, they must disclose the purchase in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although a stake of less than 10% in a company is considered "passive" in the eyes of Wall Street, it could signal an effort by Musk to take a more active role in how Twitter is run. That is one of the factors prompting other investors to buy shares and drive up the price early Monday.

"I think he intends to go active and force change at Twitter," said Dan Ives, tech analyst as Wedbush Securities. "This is a shot across the bow at Twitter's board and management team to start discussions."

Even if Musk doesn't try to change the way Twitter operates, his large purchase could prompt some other activist investors to take a stake in the company, Ives said.
"One way or another, he's going to change the course of Twitter," Ives said.
Ives said it's probably not realistic for Musk or anyone else to try to start building a new, competing platform from scratch. Thus it makes more sense for him to try to change practices at Twitter itself.

Twitter did not have an immediate response to a request for comment on Musk's investment.

Musk among most popular tweeters

Musk has 80 million Twitter followers, far more than any other CEO. And he is a frequent tweeter, using it as the major form of disseminating news about both Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX, the two companies he leads, neither of which has the traditional public relations department in place at other companies.

His tweets have gotten him in trouble at times, though.

In 2018 Musk tweeted that he would be taking Tesla private at a price of $420 a share, and that he had "funding secured" to do just that. It later became clear that while he did have discussions about funding such a bid, the funding was by no means secured.
Musk settled the case by giving up his role as Tesla's chairman, although he remains its CEO. He and Tesla each paid a $20 million fine as well, with Musk compensating the company for its payment by purchasing an additional $20 million in Tesla stock.

He also agreed to have any of his future tweets that might contain material information about the company reviewed by other executives at Tesla before sending them. The SEC has questioned whether or not he is complying with that provision of the agreement, and Musk and the agency are fighting about that matter in court.

Twitter's recent turmoil

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO last November in a sudden move without the kind of advance notice that typically is given with this type of leadership change. He was succeeded by Parag Agrawal, who had been chief technology officer.
Musk had expressed support for Dorsey in the past when he was facing criticism from some shareholders. And when Agrawal was first named Twitter CEO, someone else tweeted the fact that Google, Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, Palo Alto Networks and Twitter are all run by executives who grew up in India, Musk replied with his own tweet: "USA benefits greatly from Indian talent!"

But just days later, he tweeted a meme that equated Agrawal to former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and depicted Dorsey as a former Stalin confident the dictator later had assassinated.

"Musk has already indicated that he did not agree with the appointment of Agrawal and that he desires some changes," Morningstar analyst Ali Mogharabi said in a note to clients. "This creates a bit more uncertainty about how Agrawal and the firm may respond to the firm's now largest shareholder."

Unlike Musk, who owns more than 20% of Tesla, Dorsey's stake in Twitter is relatively modest, with only 2.3% of the company's shares.

Musk doesn't necessarily need to become CEO of Twitter to be able to persuade the company to change its practices, Ives said. And it's not completely clear what changes he would like to see.

He recently ran a Twitter poll asking his followers whether they believe Twitter rigorously adheres to the principle of free speech — 70% said no — and another poll asking whether its algorithms should be open source — 83% responded yes. Both polls attracted more than 1 million responses.

But the kind of changes that Musk might be advocating for at Twitter could be far different from those a traditional activist investor might seek, which typically concern increasing a company's stock price.

Activists have targeted Twitter in the past

Twitter has faced activist investors before. Hedge fund Elliott Management in 2020 pushed for changes at the platform, including possibly forcing out Dorsey or insisting he give up a separate CEO position he had at payments technology company Square (SQ). Dorsey survived that challenge but ultimately decided to leave Twitter more than a year later.

Twitter has become a target for critics on both sides of the political divide. Some believe the platform did not do enough to combat misinformation about Covid-19 and alleged election fraud. Others believe it was wrong to censor some points of view, including banning former President Donald Trump.

Twitter's $31.5 billion market value is a fraction of what companies such as Tesla or rival social media giant Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, are worth. And Twitter's stock has lost more than half of its value since February 2021, when the company reported that its efforts to tackle misleading content around the US elections cost the platform some users.

Still it would probably be too expensive for Musk to buy Twitter on his own, said Ives, especially since most of his wealth is tied up in his holdings of Tesla and SpaceX shares. Musk is the world's richest person, with an estimated net worth of $288 billion, according to Forbes.

"He'd have to partner up with private equity," Ives said. "It's not like he could do it himself."

CNN-Business 4/4/2022

[Tanada]

Twitter says it’s testing an ‘edit’ button

Twitter tweeted Tuesday that it is indeed working on a way for users to edit their 280-character messages, although it says the project has nothing to do with the fact that edit-function fan Elon Musk was just revealed as the company’s largest shareholder and now sits on its board.

Twitter said it will test the feature in its paid service, Twitter Blue, in the coming months. It said the test would help it “learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible.” So it may be a while before most Twitter users get to use it, if they ever do. Twitter spokesperson Catherine Hill declined to say whether an edit feature might be rolled out for all users.

Many Twitter users — among them, Kim Kardashian, Ice T, Katy Perry and McDonald’s corporate account — have long begged for an edit button. The company itself recently teased users with an April Fool’s Day tweet saying “we are working on an edit button.” The official Twitter account said Tuesday that the April 1 tweet wasn’t a joke and that it has been working on it since last year.

Twitter also said it didn’t get the idea from a Twitter poll launched by Tesla CEO Musk Monday evening. Musk, himself a Twitter power user, asked followers if they wanted an edit button, cheekily misspelling “yes” as “yse” and “no” as “on.” More than 4 million people had voted as of Tuesday evening.

Musk also tweeted that he is looking forward to making “significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”

Twitter’s vice president of consumer product, Jay Sullivan, tweeted Tuesday that an edit function has for years been Twitter’s most requested new feature, noting that people want to fix mistakes, typos, and “hot takes.”

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had said that Twitter had considered an edit button, but in a January 2020 Q&A maintained that “we’ll probably never do it.” He noted that Twitter’s current setup keeps the spirit of its text-message origins — texts can’t be edited — and the confusion that could result from users making changes to a tweet that has already been heavily circulated by others. Dorsey stepped down as CEO in November 2021.

People who study Twitter also say adding an edit button would likely change the nature of Twitter, making it less valuable as a historical warehouse that stores official statements by politicians and other high-profile people. Twitter, for better or worse, “has become the de facto news wire,” said Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University communications professor and an expert on social media who researches propaganda.

Tweets are often embedded in news stories, which could cause problems if the users edit important or controversial tweets without leaving evidence of the original statement. Grygiel suggested instead giving Twitter users a window of time to edit their tweets before they publish them.

Letting powerful Twitter users edit their tweets means they would not be historical statements anymore, Grygiel said. “We need to think about what the implications are, what these tweets are, who has power.”

The company acknowledged those concerns Tuesday evening when Sullivan tweeted: “Without things like time limits, controls, and transparency about what has been edited, Edit could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation. Protecting the integrity of that public conversation is our top priority when we approach this work.”

Musk, too, had said that a proposal for a post-publication edit window of a few minutes “ sounds reasonable.”

Musk is someone who could seemingly use an edit button. His tweet about taking Tesla private at $420 per share, when funding was not secured, led to a $40 million SEC settlement and a requirement that Musk’s tweets be approved by a corporate lawyer. Musk is still embroiled in a fight over that settlement.

Twitter had earlier seemed to be taking a tongue-in-cheek approach to Musk’s poll. Twitter’s CEO, Parag Agrawal, retweeted the poll with a seeming reference to an earlier tweet by Musk, saying “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.” Musk had used the same language in a March tweet describing another of his polls that asked whether Twitter adheres to free speech principles.

AP News

[Tanada]

Musk begins his Twitter ownership with firings, declares the 'bird is freed'

NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Elon Musk has taken ownership of Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) with brutal efficiency, firing top executives but providing little clarity over how he will achieve the ambitions he has outlined for the influential social media platform.

"The bird is freed," he tweeted after he completed his $44 billion acquisition on Thursday, referencing Twitter's bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer limits on content that can be posted.

The CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and self-described free speech absolutist has, however, also said he wants to prevent the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division.

Other goals include wanting to "defeat" spam bots on Twitter and make the algorithms that determine how content is presented to its users publicly available.

Yet Musk has not offered details on how he will achieve all this and who will run the company. He has said he plans to cut jobs, leaving Twitter's 7,500 employees fretting about their future. He also said on Thursday he did not buy Twitter to make more money but "to try to help humanity, whom I love."

Less that 10% of 266 Twitter employees who participated in a poll on messaging app Blind expected to still have their jobs in three months. Blind allows employees to air grievances anonymously after they sign up with corporate emails.

Musk fired Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, according to people familiar with the matter. He had accused them of misleading him and Twitter investors over the number of fake accounts on the platform.

Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter's San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out, the sources added.

Musk, who also runs rocket company SpaceX, plans to become Twitter's interim CEO according to a person familiar with the matter and following an earlier report by Reuters. Musk also plans to scrap permanent bans on users, Bloomberg said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Twitter, Musk and the executives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
'CHIEF TWIT'

Before closing the deal, Musk walked into Twitter's headquarters on Wednesday with a big grin and a porcelain sink, subsequently tweeting "let that sink in." He changed his Twitter profile description to "Chief Twit."

Musk said in May he would reverse Twitter's ban on Donald Trump, who's account was removed after the attack on the U.S. Capitol. A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, but the former U.S. president previously said he won't return to the platform and has instead launched his own social media app, Truth Social.

Musk tried to calm Twitter employee fears that major layoffs are coming and assured advertisers that his past criticism of Twitter's content moderation rules would not harm its appeal.

"Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!" Musk said in an open letter to advertisers on Thursday.

As news of the deal spread, some Twitter users were quick to flag their willingness to walk away.

"I will be happy to leave in a heartbeat if Musk, well, acts as we all expect him to," said a user with the @mustlovedogsxo account.

European regulators also reiterated past warnings that, under Musk's leadership, Twitter must still abide by the region's Digital Services Act, which levies hefty fines on companies if they do not control illegal content.

"In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules," EU industry chief Thierry Breton tweeted on Friday morning.

European Parliament lawmaker and civil rights proponent Patrick Breyer suggested people look for alternatives where privacy is a priority.

"Twitter already knows our personalities dangerously well due to its pervasive surveillance of our every click. Now this knowledge will be falling into Musk's hands."

Musk has indicated he sees Twitter as a foundation for creating a "super app" that offers everything from money transfers to shopping and ride-hailing.

But Twitter is struggling to engage its most active users who are vital to the business. These "heavy tweeters" account for less than 10% of monthly overall users but generate 90% of all tweets and half of global revenue.

Musk will face a challenge building revenue "given that the controversial opinions he appears to want to give more of a free rein to are often unpalatable to advertisers," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.
A SAGA

The deal's road to fruition was full of twists and turns that sowed doubt over whether it would happen at all. It began on April 4, when Musk disclosed a 9.2% Twitter stake, becoming the company's largest shareholder.

The world's richest person then agreed to join Twitter's board, only to balk at the last minute and offer to buy the company instead for $54.20 per share.

Over the course of just one weekend later in April, the two sides reached a deal without Musk carrying out any due diligence on the company's confidential information.

In the weeks that followed, Musk had second thoughts. He complained publicly about Twitter's spam accounts and his lawyers then accused Twitter of not complying with his requests for information on the subject.

The acrimony resulted in Musk telling Twitter on July 8 he was terminating the deal. Four days later, Twitter sued Musk to force him to complete the acquisition.

By then, the stock market had plunged on concerns about a potential recession. Twitter accused Musk of buyer's remorse, arguing he wanted out of the deal because he thought he overpaid. Most legal analysts thought Twitter would likely prevail in court.

On Oct. 4, Musk performed another U-turn, offering to complete the deal as promised. He managed to do that, just one day ahead of a deadline to avoid going to trial.

Twitter shares ended trade on Thursday up 0.3% at $53.86, just under the agreed price. The stock will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

Reporting by Sheila Dang and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Mathieu Rosemain in Paris, Foo Yun Chee in Brussels, Tanvi Mehta in New Delhi and Miyoung Kim in Singapore, Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Edwina Gibbs, Matt Scuffham, Elaine Hardcastle

Reuters

[Tanada]

Elon Musk’s Reign over Twitter Is Right here: What It Means for You

Billionaire Elon Musk has brash notions for Twitter. Now, he wants to really make them a actuality.

Late Thursday, Musk closed a deal to purchase Twitter for $44 billion, setting the stage for enormous change on the social media firm. His first order of enterprise: firing key executives on the firm, together with CEO Parag Agrawal.

Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been chaotic as a result of he is modified his thoughts repeatedly about shopping for the social media platform. From the surface wanting in, the world’s richest man has been vocal about his lofty visions for Twitter’s future. Now on the within, Musk has to attempt to carry his wildest Twitter ambitions to life — or change gears but once more.

For normal customers, meaning the Twitter you as soon as knew may grow to be a factor of the previous. The corporate, nonetheless probably the most influential locations on the web, may begin including extra options akin to funds, evolving past only a social media platform. Content material moderation on the location may grow to be extra lax, making it more durable for customers to grapple with harassment, hate speech and different abuse.

Already, Musk has tossed round a ton of aspirations, like defeating spam bots, morphing Twitter into an “every thing app” just like WeChat and ratcheting up development to 1 billion customers. On the midpoint of this 12 months, Twitter had about 238 million individuals utilizing the service day by day. Fb, by comparability, is nearing 2 billion.

One among his most controversial recommendations: reversing the everlasting ban on former US President Donald Trump, which was put in place two days after the lethal riot on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Twitter warned that Trump’s tweets risked inciting additional violence.

However even earlier than he confronted the fact of proudly owning the corporate, not all of Musk’s concepts have caught.

At one level, Musk advised a blockchain-based model of Twitter and floated the thought of turning Twitter’s headquarters right into a homeless shelter. He deleted tweets in April that really helpful Twitter’s $5-a-month Blue subscription service take away all adverts for members, hand out authentication checkmarks robotically and let subscribers pay via the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

And Musk, who as soon as proclaimed he “hates promoting,” modified his tune on Thursday, tweeting an ode to entrepreneurs that “promoting, when executed proper, can delight, entertain and inform you.”

“Twitter’s advert enterprise is already on shaky floor,” mentioned Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg. “Uncertainty arising from the weak economic system and Musk’s erratic habits have led to advertiser pullback.”

Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro did not instantly reply to a request for remark.

Listed below are three modifications Musk retains pushing for at Twitter — and what that might appear to be for you:
Desires of an ‘every thing app’

Twitter may grow to be a platform that is recognized for extra than simply sharing your ideas. The service has been making an attempt to fold in additional options akin to procuring and tipping, however Twitter hasn’t drastically modified lately.

Musk has mentioned he needs to create a service just like WeChat, a Chinese language messaging app that lets customers do every thing from make funds, play video games and store. He sees proudly owning Twitter as a part of this huge imaginative and prescient.

“Shopping for Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the every thing app,” Musk tweeted in October.

If Twitter managed to tackle this type of Swiss Military knife identification, that might imply you would be turning to the app not just for scorching takes and memes, but in addition for meals supply and sending or receiving cash.

That would imply that Twitter modifications into an app like WeChat or will get folded into a brand new app solely.

However to realize this aim, Twitter must attain a degree of dominance that it is by no means even approached. A part of WeChat’s success was that, when it grew to be ubiquitous, it loved comparatively modest competitors in mainland China in contrast with the state of web companies in the present day. Twitter, whereas persevering with to compete with different social networks like Meta’s Fb and TikTok, would wish to begin taking over PayPal, GrubHub and others too.

WeChat additionally added its options over greater than a decade. Musk creating an “every thing app” would take years.

Whereas Musk tried to appease advertisers on Thursday, he is made it clear prior to now he isn’t the largest fan of promoting. Twitter’s dilemma is it makes most of its cash from adverts.

In late April, Musk advised banks he wouldn’t solely search for methods to chop prices however discover methods to generate profits from viral tweets or people who included necessary info, Reuters reported. He additionally advised charging third-party web sites a charge once they quote or embed a tweet from verified people or organizations.

Musk has additionally praised recommendations that Twitter introduce a paid membership that features 24-hour customer support or give creators an incentive to publish to Twitter first by providing them a greater break up of advert income than rivals akin to TikTok and YouTube.

Theoretically, meaning you could possibly end up confronted with paying for brand new companies, akin to getting an worker to assist get well a hacked account.

Twitter has already been experimenting with the thought of memberships that unlock early entry to options akin to an edit button. However getting customers to pay for brand new instruments and subscriptions on an app most have all the time used without cost could possibly be a tricky promote, particularly at a time when inflation is propelling individuals to chop again spending.

Shifts to expression and security

Musk, an avid consumer of Twitter with greater than 110 million followers, has additionally been one in all Twitter’s harshest critics on the subject of how the location moderates content material.

“You will need to the way forward for civilization to have a standard digital city sq.,” he mentioned in a tweet on Thursday. “There may be presently nice hazard that social media will splinter into far-right wing and far-left-wing echo chambers that generate extra hate and divide our society.”

On the similar time, Twitter cannot grow to be “a free-for-all hellscape, the place something may be mentioned with no penalties,” he added. Musk has mentioned Twitter ought to solely police speech that is unlawful, however he has additionally vowed to defeat spam and faux accounts on the platform.

Whereas Musk has painted himself as a free-speech savior, leaving up dangerous content material may make informal Twitter customers extra cautious of spending time on the platform or sharing their ideas.

His views on how Twitter moderates content material are already going through scrutiny from advocacy and civil rights teams. Critics concern his takeover will result in rolling again progress that Twitter has made combating hate speech, harassment and different offensive content material.

Paul Barrett, deputy director of the NYU Stern Heart for Enterprise and Human Rights, mentioned he is most involved about Musk’s choice to fireside Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s head of authorized coverage, belief, and security. Gadde did not reply to a request for remark.

“The hazard right here is that within the identify of ‘free speech,’ Musk will flip again the clock and make Twitter right into a stronger engine of hatred, divisiveness, and misinformation about elections, public well being coverage, and worldwide affairs,” Barrett mentioned in an announcement.

On Friday, Musk tweeted that Twitter can be forming a “content material moderation council with broadly numerous viewpoints.” Whereas Musk has mentioned he would reverse Trump’s everlasting ban on the platform, he additionally famous that “no main content material selections or account reinstatements will occur earlier than that council convenes.”

However within the US, if Twitter solely took down what’s required by regulation, it will be eradicating rather a lot lower than it does in the present day. Twitter has a prolonged checklist of guidelines about what is not allowed on its website — not all of it outright unlawful. Twitter should take down little one sexual abuse imagery, for instance, however the platform additionally removes tweets that comprise dangerous COVID-19 misinformation. Misinformation, regardless of how harmful it may be, is not essentially unlawful in international locations just like the US.

One other huge difficulty is Twitter’s reliance on adverts. Companies don’t need their adverts subsequent to offensive content material, a problem Twitter has run into earlier than.

Some companies are already quickly pausing their promoting on Twitter. Common Motors, a rival to Musk’s electric-car maker Tesla, mentioned in an announcement that it is speaking to Twitter concerning the course of the corporate.

“As is regular course of enterprise with a major change in a media platform, we’ve got quickly paused our paid promoting,” GM mentioned in an announcement. “Our buyer care interactions on Twitter will proceed.”

EcoTechDigital

[Outcast_Searcher]

Facebook Slump Continues After Two Senior Executives Exit

The shares slid to $20.04 at the close in New York.
...
The most populous U.S. state’s $91.3 billion budget, signed by Governor Jerry Brown in June, counted on $1.9 billion in income-tax revenue when company insiders such as Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg exercise options, assuming a per-share price of $35.

2% of CA budget?

Why highly successful people want to live in places like CA or NYC is beyond me. It's not like such people can't use computers or take business trips to run a business.

I'm not a fan of Musk taking over Twitter (speaking of highly successful people and social media), but I sure understand why he moved his and Tesla's HQ and tax regime to Texas.

Taxing the rich is fine, to a reasonable level. And believe it or not, overall, the rich pay a HUGE proportion of the US income taxes, as they should. (Just look at the data from the IRS or many outfits who monitor US income tax data -- their results are consistent for the credible ones). For example:

https://www.ntu.org/foundation/tax-page ... come-taxes

I'd call the top 1 percent paying 40% of the US income taxes "about right", though the far left endlessly cries about it, no matter what. (For the exceptions who pay little but earn a LOT over time, fine, fix that. That's what laws and regulations are for.)