Billionaires like Musk pay social security taxes almost instantly, with Musk paying only minimal federal taxes.

From Yahoo Finance: 2025-04-19 08:05:00

Most Americans spend a full year paying Social Security payroll taxes, while billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos fulfill their obligations almost instantly. In 2025, the max earnings subject to Social Security tax is $176,100. Self-employed individuals pay both the employee and employer portions, totaling 12.4%. Musk paid all his Social Security taxes within 15 minutes in 2025, while Tesla reported $0 federal income tax in 2024. Musk’s company had a three-year federal tax rate of just 0.4%, significantly lower than the statutory corporate tax rate of 21%. Musk made claims about paying over $10 billion in taxes but actually paid $68,000 in federal income tax in 2015 and $65,000 in 2017, with no federal income taxes in 2018. The future aim for most Americans filing their taxes is to maximize their Social Security benefits for retirement income, while billionaires like Musk are less concerned about their retirement benefits.



Read more at Yahoo Finance: How Much Do Musk and Other Billionaires Pay in Social Security Taxes?