What is the drastic tax efficiency commission that Donald Trump has proposed Elon Musk lead if he wins the US elections?

The Republican candidate for president of United States, Donald Trumpsaid Thursday that if he is elected in the November vote, will entrust the richest man in the world with heading a tax efficiency commission to eliminate waste in the federal government.

The person who would be in charge is Elon Muskowner of Tesla, Space X, the social network X and whose fortune amounts to $221.4 billionaccording to ForbesThe idea of ​​creating this tax agency came from Musk himself, who, in August, during an interview with the presidential candidate, He suggested that he look closely at public spending as a way of controlling inflation.

This commission will develop an action plan to completely eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months.

To start, “this commission will develop an action plan to completely eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months,” Trump told the Economic Club of New York on September 5. “This will save billions of dollars.”

Musk responded that he would be “happy to assist on such a commission,” adding that he looks forward to “serving America if the opportunity arises” and that he does not need a salary, title or recognition.

With this new announcement, Musk continues to emerge as a new voice in American politics, who in recent months has been very active in expressing his opinion not only on what is happening in the North American country, but also approaching figures such as Javier Milei, Nayib Bukele and Jair Bolsonaro.

However, some American media have already written in their various editorials that the idea, if it were to materialize, would have several drawbacks. Below, we explain the key points of this proposal.

What would the tax efficiency commission that Donald Trump asked Elon Musk to lead in the United States do?

Trump indicated that the “government efficiency commission” will be “in charge of driving a complete financial and management audit of the entire federal government”.

According to people close to Trump quoted by the newspaper The New York Timesthe idea is to eliminate unnecessary government spending to make it more efficient. “Trump has told Musk that he wants the tech entrepreneur to cut federal government costs,” just as he did at his company X when he acquired it in 2022.

“One of the things Musk did in his effort to restore Twitter to profitability was to cut a major source of costs: employees. The company went from having about 8,000 employees when he bought it to fewer than 2,000 today. If you apply that math to the federal government, you end up with more than 2.4 million people out of work. That’s one-eighth of the job losses recorded between March and April 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic began,” wrote columnist Philip Bump in the paper. The Washington Post.

Trump also reiterated his plan to cut taxes and raise tariffs on importsand said it plans to eliminate 10 official regulations for every one created.

Two months before the presidential elections on November 5, The Republican tycoon also pledged to make the United States “the world capital of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.”

“Instead of fighting the industries of the future, we will support them,” he said.

However, the Republican did not identify the spending he intends to cut, and experts are skeptical.

Why would Elon Musk be an obstacle to a possible Donald Trump presidency?

Although Trump acknowledges that Musk is already very busy with his companies, he also revealed that the businessman “has agreed to step forward.”

However, Musk’s business dealings, including Tesla and SpaceX, could pose conflicts of interest in his role, as they are regulated by several federal agencies.

For example, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is one of SpaceX’s main customers.. On the other hand, Tesla’s car sales and energy business are subsidized by federal tax credits, and its Social Network X is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission. In addition, its brain implant company Neuralink is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In that sense, Any tax move that impacts these businesses could be seen as a conflict of interest.

“The issue of conflict of interest is one of the most obvious concerns in this appointment, as SpaceX has government contracts and Tesla benefits from federal tax credits,” Ann Skeet, senior director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, told The New York Times.

But beyond whether Musk will have a technical role within the Trump administration, the truth is that the rapprochement between the two could also have an electoral purpose.

And Musk has been openly critical of the Democratic Party during this presidential campaign, especi
ally against Kamala Harris. In fact, at the end of July, the owner of X published a fake video generated with artificial intelligence on that platform in which the vice president was seen saying conspiracy theories about her own candidacy in a fake voice.

The video was viewed by millions of people and praised by hundreds of thousands of Trump supporters who see Musk as a natural fit that could translate into political office and votes.