Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.
Someone always gets billed. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says when it comes to America’s growing deficit, the final invoice won’t land only on billionaires—it will eventually reach everyone.
“The only way the deficit actually gets paid is taxing the living daylights out of everyone,” Musk wrote in a post on X in September 2023.
Musk made the comment while responding to the ongoing debate over how the U.S. should tackle its mounting debt. His view has remained consistent across multiple posts, arguing that even aggressive taxes on the wealthiest Americans wouldn’t come close to closing the government’s long-term funding gap.
Don’t Miss:
Why Musk Says the Math Doesn’t Work
“Even if you tax every billionaire in America at 100%, it barely makes a dent in the national debt,” he wrote in an earlier post on X that year. “In the end, the government will be forced to tax everyone to pay the debt.”
For Musk, the issue isn’t whether billionaires should pay more taxes. It’s that the numbers simply don’t add up.
Billionaire wealth represents a finite pool of assets, while federal deficits continue to grow every year. As debt accumulates and interest payments rise, Musk has argued the government ultimately has only a handful of options, including spending cuts, stronger economic growth, broader taxation or inflation.
Trending: If there was a new fund backed by Jeff Bezos offering a 7-9% target yield with monthly dividends would you invest in it?
His Own Tax Bill Doesn’t Change the Equation
Musk has also pointed to his own tax payments to illustrate the point.
“I have paid over $10B in taxes in a single year, more than anyone in history,” he wrote in an X post in May.
He said exercising and selling stock options can push his combined federal and state tax rate to roughly 45%, with estate taxes adding another 40% when he dies.
“Overall, I will probably end up paying trillions in taxes,” he wrote.
Those figures, Musk said, demonstrate that even historically large tax payments from individual billionaires don’t fundamentally change the nation’s fiscal trajectory if annual deficits continue to pile up.
See Also: New U.S. Energy Policies Are Shining A Spotlight On Domestic Production. Here’s One Company Investors Are Watching.
The Debate Doesn’t End With Taxes
Musk has frequently argued that innovation and economic growth offer a more durable path than relying solely on higher taxes. In his view, expanding the economy can generate more revenue while easing the pressure to continually raise tax rates.
That idea has drawn investor attention to companies focused on improving productivity through technology. One example is Immersed, a startup developing spatial computing software and its Visor headset to create AI-powered virtual workspaces for professionals. The company remains privately held, giving everyday investors the opportunity to invest before any potential public offering.
Musk’s posts weren’t intended to settle the debate over taxes or government spending. Instead, they highlighted what he sees as a basic arithmetic problem: without slowing the growth of deficits, the cost of paying for them eventually extends far beyond the nation’s wealthiest taxpayers.
Read Next: Most AI Robotics Companies Are Still Building. This One Is Already Working In Restaurants.
Building Wealth Across More Than Just the Market
Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That’s why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple asset classes, it becomes easier to manage risk, capture steady returns, and create long-term wealth that isn’t tied to the fortunes of just one company or industry.
Arrived
Backed by Jeff Bezos, Arrived Homes makes real estate investing accessible with a low barrier to entry. Investors can buy fractional shares of single-family rentals and vacation homes starting with as little as $100. This allows everyday investors to diversify into real estate, collect rental income, and build long-term wealth without needing to manage properties directly.
Realberry
Institutional-quality real estate has traditionally been difficult for individual investors to access. Realberry gives accredited investors direct access to private real estate opportunities backed by a team with 35 years of experience, $3.4 billion in assets under management, and $481 million in cumulative distributions paid to investors as of Q4 2025, according to the company. With a portfolio spanning 13 million square feet across seven U.S. states, Realberry focuses on acquiring, developing, and managing real estate with an emphasis on long-term value creation while its principals often invest alongside clients to help align interests.
FarmTogether
Farmland has historically held its value through market volatility and delivered returns uncorrelated to stocks and bonds. For accredited investors, FarmTogether offers direct access to high-quality U.S. farmland starting at $15,000 — fully managed, with no landlord headaches.
Immersed
Immersed is building technology for the future of work through spatial computing. Known for its AR/VR productivity platform that enables users to work across multiple virtual screens, the company has grown to more than 1.5 million users worldwide. Immersed is also developing Visor, a lightweight headset designed specifically for professional productivity, positioning the company at the intersection of remote work, extended reality (XR), and next-generation computing.
Fundrise
Private real estate and private credit can add income and stability to a stock-heavy portfolio. Fundrise offers access to diversified private real estate and credit strategies through an easy-to-use platform, with professionally managed portfolios designed to generate passive income and long-term growth.
Mode Mobile
Mode Mobile is changing the way people interact with their phones by letting users earn money from the same apps and activities they already use every day. Instead of platforms keeping all the advertising revenue, Mode Mobile shares a portion back with users who engage with content, play games, and scroll on their devices. Named one of Deloitte’s fastest-growing software companies in North America, the company has built a large beta user base and is scaling a model that turns everyday smartphone usage into a potential income stream.
EquityMultiple
For accredited investors looking beyond stocks and bonds, EquityMultiple provides access to vetted commercial real estate deals starting at $5,000, with only ~5% of opportunities passing their due diligence process.
Image: Shutterstock
This article Elon Musk Says ‘Only Way’ the U.S. Deficit Will Actually Get Paid Is by ‘Taxing the Living Daylights Out of Everyone’ originally appeared on Benzinga.com
© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
