World’s Richest Person, Elon Musk, Shares He’ll Pay R175 Billion in Tax This Year

World’s Richest Person, Elon Musk, Shares He’ll Pay R175 Billion in Tax This Year

  • Elon Musk shared on Twitter this morning that he would be paying more than $11 billion (about R175.49 billion) in taxes this year
  • According to Bloomberg calculations, the Tesla CEO may face a tax bill of more than $10 billion (about R158.45)
  • The exorbitant charge comes after Musk exercised 15 million options and sold millions of shares to cover the taxes related to those transactions

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Chief executive officer of Tesla Inc, Elon Musk, took to his Twitter this morning to confirm that he will be paying more than $11 billion (about R175.49 billion) in taxes this year.

Elon Musk, Tax, Tesla
The world’s richest person, Elon Musk confirmed on Twitter that he'll likely pay close to $11 billion this year. Image: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for TIME
Source: Getty Images

News24 reported that Musk may face a tax bill of more than $10 billion for 2021 if he exercises all his options due to expire next year, calculations last week by Bloomberg News showed.

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It is reported that this is amount that could constitute a record payment to the United States Internal Revenue Service.

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According to Bloomberg, the hefty amount comes after Musk exercised almost 15 million options and sold millions of shares to cover the taxes related to those transactions.

“That was following a Twitter poll last month when he asked followers whether he should sell 10% of his stake in the electric carmaker, whose shares have rocketed more than 2,300% over the past five years,” said Bloomberg.

Social media reacts to Musk’s announcement

@Cernovich asked:

“Does anyone think this $11 billion will be better spent by the federal government than it would be by Elon Musk?”

@PrasoonPratham said:

“I wonder what people will find next to complain about you lol.”

@Dan WhitCongress commented:

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“I wish I could pay 3.64238% of my net worth in taxes… I’m just a working class guy so unfortunately we pay closer to 37% of our income in taxes. Like the majority of Americans that own a house, rather own a mortgage (debt) on a bank owned house, we have a negative net wealth.”

@ChamisaColvin asked:

“What percentage is that of your total income?”

Elon Musk sells R76 billion inTesla shares following viral social media poll

In related news, Briefly News recently reported that South African-born billionaire Elon Musk recently sold $5 billion (R76 618 500 000) worth of Tesla Inc.'s stock following a social media poll asking his 63 million followers if he should sell 10% of his stake in the electric-car company.

The businesses shares dropped by approximately 16% just two days after the poll results were in favour of him selling the 10%, it regained ground mid-week.

The world's richest person's trust also sold about 3.6 million shares in the car company amounting to about $4 billion.

Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Nothando Mthembu avatar

Nothando Mthembu (Senior editor) Nothando Mthembu is a senior multimedia journalist and editor. Nothando has over 5 years of work experience and has served several media houses including Caxton Local Newspapers. She has experience writing on human interest, environment, crime and social issues for community newspapers. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree and an Honours Degree in Media Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, obtained in 2016 and 2017. Nothando has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. Email: nothando.mthembu@briefly.co.za

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