Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and CEO of Tesla Inc, said on Twitter that he would pay more than $11 billion. 85,000 crore) in taxes this year, an amount that could constitute a record payment to the US Internal Revenue Service.
According to calculations last week by Bloomberg News, the billionaire could face a tax bill of more than $10 billion for 2021 if he exercises all of his options, due to expire next year.
The unusually high levy comes after Musk exercised approximately 15 million options and sold millions of shares to cover taxes related to those transactions. He was following a Twitter poll last month when he asked followers whether he should sell his 10% stake in the electric car maker, whose shares have risen more than 2,300% over the past five years.
A ProPublica report in June said Musk paid very little income tax relative to his outside assets. But he pushed back against that feature, saying he doesn’t take a salary from SpaceX or Tesla, and pays an effective tax rate of 53% on the stock options he exercises. He said he expects the tax rate to increase next year.
Musk said earlier this month that he would pay more taxes this year than any American in history. This was in response to another tweet from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who used Musk’s praise of Time magazine “Person of the Year” to call him out on his taxes.
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