Elon Musk slammed the US Senate’s latest version of President Donald Trump’s multi-trillion dollar tax bill last Saturday, warning that the cuts to electric vehicle and other clean energy credits would be "incredibly destructive” to the country.
Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc and SpaceX, posted on his social media platform X about the bill, which the Senate advanced in a contentious vote late Saturday. Musk recently left Trump’s side after working for several months as the head of Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
The bill would destroy millions of US jobs and give "handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future,” Musk said.
The tech billionaire’s latest criticism of the package threatens to reawaken his public rift with Trump that began after the world’s richest man left his cost-cutting job in the administration.
Trump was asked about Musk in an interview that was recorded on Friday before the billionaire’s most recent posts.
"I haven’t spoken to him much, but I think Elon is a wonderful guy, and I know he’s going to do well always,” Trump said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, which aired Sunday. "But he got a little bit upset, and you know that wasn’t appropriate.”
The Senate tax bill would bring a quicker end to a popular US$7,500 (RM31,627) consumer tax credit for electric vehicles.
While the earlier proposal would have ended the incentive at the end of this year for most EV sales, the new version terminates the credit after Sept 30. Tax credits for the purchase of used and commercial electric vehicles would end at the same time. – Bloomberg
