The rise in Tesla shares made a lot of money for Elon Musk. However, he would only pay taxes on the price gains when selling shares. Twitter users should now decide.
Tesla boss Elon Musk lets Twitter users vote whether he should sell a tenth of his stake in the electric car manufacturer for higher tax payments.
As by far the richest person in the world, the 50-year-old has recently been increasingly confronted with demands to contribute more to solving the world’s problems and to pay more taxes. The package would currently be worth more than $ 20 billion.
Musk announced on Twitter on Saturday that since he does not get a salary or bonus payments, selling stocks is the only way for him to pay taxes. The value of Musk’s fortune has grown strongly in recent months with the steady rise in the price of Tesla shares, at least on paper. However, according to the current rules, taxes are only due when he reaps the price gains from a sale.
In the USA, among others, there is currently a lot of discussion about reforming the tax system, which could start with wealth. Musk referenced it on Twitter: “Recently, unrealized gains have often been referred to as a way to avoid taxes, so I suggest selling 10 percent of my Tesla stock.” He will stick to the outcome of the Twitter poll, no matter how it turns out.
On Sunday morning, Central European Time, 2.8 million votes were cast – 57 percent were in favor of the sale by then. The survey will run until Sunday evening European time. Musk did not provide any information on how quickly he would sell the block of shares. In the United States, there are often pre-agreed schedules for stock sales by top managers.
According to calculations by financial service Bloomberg, the package would correspond to 80 percent of the average daily trading volume of Tesla shares. Based on the 170.5 million shares held by Musk, the ten percent would be worth around $ 21 billion at the current price. Bloomberg calculates Musk’s total fortune on its billionaire list at $ 338 billion. The star entrepreneur also holds a large stake in the space company SpaceX.
Just a few days ago, Musk had a Twitter debate with the head of the US World Food Program, David Beasley. After Beasley asked the billionaire for help in the fight against hunger, Musk asked him to first publish detailed information on the spending, “so people can see exactly where the money is going.”
Source From: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
