Elon Musk has reportedly collected at least $38 billion in government funding through contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits for his companies, including SpaceX and Tesla. According to a recent Washington Post analysis, Musk’s electric-car maker Tesla collected $11.4 billion in regulatory credits, while SpaceX received billions from NASA and the Department of Defense.
Musk’s ability to collect this large amount of government money has been attributed to his skill in navigating the system. He has reportedly worked closely with Trump in his new administration to target specific agencies and attack those that investigate his companies.
The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) claims to have saved the government an estimated $115 billion, but some argue this figure is overstated. Musk’s private-equity firm, xAI, also benefits from tax breaks, including a 10-year data center deal worth an estimated $10.1 million.
Professor Jeb Barnes, a USC professor of political science, calls Musk’s strategy “subsidy harvesting.” He notes that Musk can target different parts of the government and attack agencies that investigate his companies, making it difficult to detect potential conflicts of interest.
Source: https://fortune.com/2025/03/19/elon-musk-subsidy-harvesting-strategy-tesla-spacex-xai-doge