“For those who wonder, I will pay over $ 11 billion in taxes this year.”
Tesla boss Elon Musk tweets, thus returning to intervene on a topic, that of tax rates, which recently fascinated him, leading him to clash with Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, champion of an increase in the tax burden on the so-called “scroungers” of the economy with stars and stripes. The billionaire could in fact find himself a tax account of more than 10 billion if he exercises all his options due next year, according to calculations made by Bloomberg News.
Musk exercised nearly 15 million options and sold millions of Tesla shares to cover taxes related to these transactions. All following a poll also carried out on Twitter in November, when he asked followers if he should sell 10% of his stake in the green carmaker, whose shares have risen more than 2,300% in the past five years.
A ProPublica report in June revealed that Musk paid little income tax compared to his outsized wealth. But he denied this accusation, claiming that he does not receive salary from either SpaceX or Tesla and indeed pays an effective tax rate of 53% on the stock options he exercises. He added that he expects this tax rate to rise next year. Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, Musk earlier this month said he will pay more taxes by 2021 than any American in history, again in response to another tweet from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.