Elon Musk takes shots at Biden, SEC anti-nuclear sentiment at Code

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized President Joe Biden on Tuesday, deeming his administration “biased” against Tesla and saying it appears to be “controlled” by unions during a speech on stage at the Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California.

Musk, in his typically irreverent form, also repeated several of his prior taunts against federal financial regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission, reiterated his support for cryptocurrency and nuclear energy, and said he is optimistic about Tesla and tech in China despite recent antitrust and cryptocurrency crackdowns there.

Code host and Recode editor-at-large Kara Swisher asked Musk to explain recent tweets in which he chided President Joe Biden.

Musk sighed. “You know, Biden held this EV summit — didn’t invite Tesla. Invited GM, Ford, Chrysler and UAW. An EV summit on the White House! Didn’t mention Tesla once, and praised GM and Ford for leading the EV revolution.”

“Does this sound maybe a little biased or something? And you know, just — it’s not the friendliest administration. Seems to be controlled by unions, as far as I can tell.”

Swisher asked him if he is waiting to get former President Donald Trump back or to be president himself, and he said no on both counts.

Swisher asked Musk — who is currently the wealthiest person in the world, according to Bloomberg — to respond to criticism that while his companies have received a good deal of government contracts and subsidies, the CEO has avoided paying some taxes personally in the U.S. through creative, if legal, accounting practices.

In June, the investigative news site ProPublica reported on Musk’s tax bill as part of a massive analysis of billionaires’ finances. They found that Musk’s income tax bill amounted to zero in 2018.

Musk insulted ProPublica’s reporting, calling it “tricky” and “misleading.”

ProPublica did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Musk’s contentions.

Then he said that the number was so low because he does not draw a salary, so his cash compensation is basically zero. Musk borrows money against stock options that vest over time instead.

As he has amassed more and more shares in Tesla and SpaceX, he said, he has “not really bothered” to take money off the table by selling a stake. The success of SpaceX and Tesla was far from assured, Musk said. “They skirted bankruptcy many times. But I never tried to take money off the table. And now this is trying to be turned around and made into a bad thing.”

Publicly traded Tesla never issued a notice to shareholders that it was near bankruptcy.

When Musk’s stock options expire at Tesla, the CEO said, his marginal tax rate will be over 50%. “I have a bunch of options that are expiring early next year, so … a huge block of options will sell in Q4 — because I have…