Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary voiced concerns about several aspects of the Big Beautiful Bill touted by US President Donald Trump on Thursday — echoing comments made by Elon Musk amidst a rather public showdown with the POTUS. The well-known investor had previously labelled a key portion of the document “anti-American” and issued repeated warnings that it would harm small businesses.
“It simply says pre-pandemic, deficits were sub-one trillion regardless of administration. And all of a sudden post-pandemic, they’re all over two trillion and that’s not sustainable. Why is that the case? He may have to get an answer because that’s exactly why Elon dropped that bomb. He wants an answer to that question too. And so, they’re putting a lot of pressure on lawmakers here to go find a way to get this closer to a break-even budget, not a $2 trillion deficit in perpetuity which is not sustainable,” he wrote on Instagram while sharing a video.
He also noted that the Bill had a provision for the IRS to extend the audit period for small businesses from three years to nine years in case they took any government grant money in the employment retention credit.
“This is really punitive and I’ve gone to war against it and I haven’t found a senator yet, not a Republican anyways, that wants to extend powers to the IRS to audit small business for nine years, which is ludicrous,” he added.
Trump ally-turned-bitter-enemy Elon Musk also urged people to call their local leaders and “Kill the Bill” on Thursday — insisting that it was “not okay” to bankrupt America. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO had previously called it a “disgusting abomination” and lambasted Congress leaders for backing it. The sweeping $4 trillion tax and spending legislation had narrowly passed the House of Representatives in late May by a single vote and remains under Senate review.
Fiscal conservatives have warned that the Bill could add trillions to the US national debt at a time when investors are already concerned about the growing deficit. Supporters of the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency have also raised concerns that it would reverse savings made under the initiative.