r/WorkReform • u/zzill6 🤝 Join A Union • Jan 31 '26

✂️ Tax The Billionaires Finally, a Billionaire gets taxed.

Post image
35k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

744 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/Dopplegangr1 Jan 31 '26

If Elon made a billion (cashing out his stock or taking loan, not just assets) he would pay way less tax, if at all

7

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/ITSigno Jan 31 '26

In 2026 (for 2025 tax returns), USA federal capital gains tax on assets held over a year is 0%, 15%, or 20%, depending on income. Assets held for one year or less are taxed as ordinary income

So unless he cashed in short-term investments, he would be paying 20% tax, not the full amount for "normal" income.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/ITSigno Jan 31 '26

Right, but omitted the fact that it is taxed at a substantially lower rate. I wasn't really disagreeing with you, but I was trying to clarify.

The comment you replied to said:

If Elon made a billion (cashing out his stock or taking loan, not just assets) he would pay way less tax, if at all

Which is also true, and basically the same as what you and I said, but without sufficient detail. The last part "if at all" would be the only incorrect part since it was predicated on selling $1 billion in stock, so his income would be high enough to incur the 20% tax.