Musk’s Untaxed Wealth Opens a Path to Twitter, Riling Democrats

Elon Musk could have a silent partner in his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter Inc.: the U.S. tax code.

The head of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX announced Monday an agreement to take Twitter private for $54.20 a share, pledging to equity finance $21 billion himself and use a $12.5 billion loan with his Tesla shares as collateral. Banks are committing another $13 billion in debt financing. Critics, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, say he is only able to do that because of lax taxation of billionaires.

“If you look at Musk’s ‘income’ as defined by our tax code, ...