From tax avoidant to record payer: For years, Tesla boss Elon Musk hardly paid any taxes, for which he was heavily criticized. Now a billion sum is due.
For some, Elon Musk is the greatest visionary of our time, for others just the next super-rich who pays no taxes. The Tesla boss has now revealed a number to all critics of his tax morale. “For those wondering, I’ll be paying over $ 11 billion in taxes this year,” Musk wrote on Twitter on Monday.
A few days ago Musk wrote on the subject that he would “pay more taxes this year than any other American in history.” Business magazine Bloomberg also estimates Musk’s tax bill of this magnitude and speaks of a possible record payment. The record is not secured because tax payments are actually secret.
Musk has risen to become the richest person in the world this year as a result of the Tesla stock market boom, his fortune is currently estimated at around 240 billion dollars. Time magazine recently named the 50-year-old “Person of the Year”.
On the other hand, there is public criticism that Musk hardly paid taxes for a long time compared to his enormous wealth. Research by Propublica in the summer had shown that Musk – along with other super-rich like Jeff Bezos – had a significantly lower tax rate than the average American for years.
Billionaire Tax Debate
The disproportion came about mainly because Musk’s growing wealth is not based on a classically taxed salary, but primarily on his Tesla shares, which have massively increased in value. That sparked a debate in the US about whether the super-rich should be taxed more heavily. The Democrats even tabled plans for a new billionaire tax – which Musk rejects.
In November, Musk then had a public vote via Twitter on whether he should sell ten percent of his Tesla shares in order to be able to pay taxes on the profits realized in this way. After the majority of his followers voted in favor, he actually began selling Tesla shares worth billions.
Observers suspect, however, that Musk’s action is not just about finally being able to pay taxes. It is more likely the other way around: he can use the proceeds from the Tesla share sales to pay tax payments that would have been due to him anyway. A contractual option entitles him to receive new Tesla shares much cheaper than their market value – if he only pays the taxes due for the promotion. Musk is unlikely to want to miss this opportunity.
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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.
