After tweeting a joke portraying a disproved Republican claim about the IRS, Elon Musk stated that his taxes are scrutinized "by default" every year.
Republicans, notably House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, indicated this week that the new Inflation Reduction Act's $80 billion in extra funds for the IRS will go toward employing 87,000 more IRS agents. Several news outlets have refuted the allegation.
Musk posted a picture on Twitter on Thursday with the statement, "When the country that revolted over taxes hires 87,000 new IRS agents," along with an image of a gleeful redcoat. The meme appears to relate the discredited IRS claim to the American Revolution, which was spurred by colonists' resentment of British taxation.
Fate 🖤 Irony pic.twitter.com/RHZ9BEws7k
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2022
The name "Redcoat" refers to a British soldier during the American Revolutionary War.
A Twitter user responded to Musk's post saying: "They're not going after you, they're coming for us."
Musk replied: "True. I already get audited every year by default."
Last year, ProPublica published a startling discovery revealing that Musk did not pay any federal income tax in 2018. According to the study, his fortune increased by $14 billion between 2014 and 2018, yet he only paid $455 million in taxes.
Senate Democrats have adopted a massive climate, tax, and healthcare spending package that would supply the IRS with $80 billion over the next decade, with an emphasis on boosting taxpayer services and tightening enforcement against rich individuals and corporations.
"The IRS has fewer front-line, experienced examiners in the field than at any time since World War II, and fewer employees than at any time since the 1970s," IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in a letter to the Senate in early August. With the funding package, "enhanced IT systems and taxpayer service will actually mean that honest taxpayers will be better able to comply with the tax laws, resulting in a lower likelihood of being audited and a reduced burden on them," he added.