@michaeldyrynda @JackEllis @taylorotwell @wtsnz @JoshSchoen Except (I'm assuming) everybody on this thread:

1) pays their taxes
2) pays more tax (on salary) annually than Elon has paid

According to former NY Fed president Beardsley Ruml, taxes serve a bunch of useful purposes (outside of general gov revenue).

http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/taxes-for-revenue-are-obsolete.pdf