FUK YOU MUSKYHEAD!
China Gives Tax Break to Tesla Three Days After Elon Musk Supports Colonization of Taiwan
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Monday granted two models of Tesla electric vehicle a special exemption from a hefty vehicle purchase tax, three days after Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave a controversial interview in which he advocated China taking control of Taiwan under a “special administrative zone” arrangement similar to Hong Kong – and one day after the Chinese Communist government applauded Musk’s remarks.
The Taiwanese did not applaud Musk’s “recommendation” for China to absorb Taiwan into a “reasonably palatable” administration zone that might be a little “more lenient than Hong Kong.” As the people of Taiwan have noticed, Hong Kong’s autonomy has been ground to dust under the Chinese Communist boot ever since the 2019 pro-democracy movement was crushed.
Taiwanese politicians, from both the governing DPP party and the opposition, denounced Musk’s remarks, while the Taiwanese military announced it would stop buying Teslas. Some Taiwanese officials called for a broader Tesla boycott.
A common accusation in Taiwanese criticism of Musk was that he took Beijing’s side for selfish reasons, to curry favor with the Communist Party and protect his business interests in China. Taiwan News was therefore aghast on Thursday when it noticed China announced big tax breaks for Tesla just one day after the Chinese Foreign Ministry reversed course on its early dismissal of Musks’ comments as “inappropriate,” embracing his proposal instead.
“Provided that China’s sovereignty, security and development interests are guaranteed, after reunification Taiwan will enjoy a high degree of autonomy as a special administrative region,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning, less than 24 hours before the MIIT formally announced Tesla Model S and X cars would be exempted from the onerous vehicle purchase tax.
“The announcement indicates the two models will soon enter the China market again after a long hiatus,” Taiwan News reported with deep suspicion.
The MIIT first floated the idea of waiving the ten-percent purchase tax – which works out to over $10,000 U.S. for the expensive electric vehicles – in August 2019. At the time, the unexplained tax break was set to cover three cars, the Tesla S, X, and Model 3. The latter is a much cheaper compact car, retailing for less than half of the six-figure Models S and X.
Tesla was making a huge push for the Chinese market at the time, including the announcement of its “Gigafactory” in Shanghai, which began producing cars in December 2019 and completed a $170 million expansion in September 2022. The Gigafactory was Tesla’s first overseas production facility.
Musk lavishly praised the Chinese tyranny in 2019 for its “very thoughtful” leaders and “amazing” technological progress, a buttering-up job that industry analysts credited with persuading the Chinese government to grant its valuable tax exemption.
As Taiwan News mentioned, a “long hiatus” ensued, in which Chinese customers piled up orders for Tesla vehicles, but the status of each order languished at “pending regulatory approval.”
It was not immediately clear why final approval of the Tesla tax break took so long, precisely when the decision was made to finally grant it, or what other factors might have delayed the appearance of the Tesla Model S and X in China for so long.
Delivery of both vehicles was delayed for months – almost a year, in the case of the Model X – for what Tesla calls a “design refresh,” which is roughly equivalent to other automakers transitioning to a new model year. When production resumed, filling backorders for customers in North America were prioritized by the company, followed by Europe, and evidently now China.
FUK YOU MUSKYHEAD!
The Subsidy King Is Back: Elon Musk Asks Pentagon to Pay for Starlink Internet in Ukraine
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is telling the U.S. government that it can no longer pay for Starlink terminals to help Ukraine’s war effort, and is asking that the Department of Defense to pick up the tab to the tune of $124 million — just to cover service through the end of 2022.
SpaceX says it has spent almost $100 million, and is “not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” according to a report by CNN.
Therefore, the company is now requesting that the Pentagon foot the bill, which would be $124 million for the rest of 2022, and would translate to close to $400 million for the next year.
“SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households. This is unreasonable,” Musk said in a tweet on Friday.
In another post, Musk added that SpaceX is losing $20 million a month on Starlink.
“In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations & pay telcos for access to Internet via gateways,” the SpaceX CEO said
“We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks & jamming, which are getting harder,” Musk added. “Burn is approaching ~$20M/month.”
After Kyiv Post correspondent Jason Jay Smart noted that SpaceX saying it can no longer afford to give Ukraine free service comes after Ukrainian Ambassador Andrij Melnyk told Musk to “fuck off,” Musk said, “We’re just following his recommendation.”
Melnyk had reportedly told Musk to “fuck off” after the Tesla CEO was criticized for posting a poll that suggested Ukraine should surrender Crimea to Russia, and give up other regions if residents vote in favor of it.
The roughly 20,000 Starlink terminals in Ukraine have provided infrastructure for communication, flying drones, and artillery targeting in its war against Russia.
Musk is no stranger to receiving government subsidies, at both the federal and state level.
As Breitbart News previously reported, “Tesla, which makes electric cars, struck a deal with Nevada in 2014 to build a battery factory in Reno. The state gave Tesla $1.3 billion in special incentives, including an exemption from paying property taxes for 20 years and $195 million in transferable tax credits Tesla could sell for cash.”
That comes to 15 times the size of any previous package of incentives offered by Nevada and one of the largest giveaways in American history.
Moreover, laws in 10 states require car companies operating in those states to sell a certain number of “zero emissions” vehicles. Since only electric cars qualify as “zero emissions” vehicles, these companies buy these tax credits from Musk. So far, Musk has made $517 million in profit at taxpayer expense.
Additionally, Tesla received a 30 percent federal tax credit, which can be applied to any tax liability the company may experience.
“Thanks to tax credits and carry-forward losses, the company already hasn’t paid any federal income tax since 2008,” Breitbart News reports, adding that in 2014, Tesla “paid $2.5 million in corporate taxes — $178,000 to the states, $2.35 million to foreign governments and a big fat zippy to Uncle Sam.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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