Will the billionaire sell 10% of his stock?
The tech mogul has gone suspiciously dark after promising that he will live up to the Twitter poll, no matter the outcome.
Oh, to be a multi-billionaire. Worth an estimated 318 billion US dollars, Elon Musk took to Twitter at the weekend to ask if he should pay taxes. Unsurprisingly, Twitter voted yes.
Musk and other billionaires such as Amazon owner Jeff Bezos and Facebook's (soon to be Meta) Mark Zuckerberg have been scrutinised for not paying their fair share of taxes. According to news sources, Musk is facing a billion-dollar tax bill on his 17% of Tesla stock, which is estimated to be worth more than $200 billion. He could have to pay $15 billion in taxes.
In 2018, Elon Musk, one of the richest men in the world, reportedly paid $0 in income taxes.
And so, in order to get real with the kids on Twitter, Elon Musk decided it was a great idea to ask Twitter about his taxes. Uploading a poll on November 6, Musk asked: "Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock.
"Do you support this?"
Voters could choose to vote either "Yes" or "No".
He later clarified that he only has stock in Tesla, meaning that the only way for him to pay taxes is for him to sell his stock. He also said he will stick to the outcome, saying: "I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes."
However, since the poll closed, Musk has gone all quiet. 3.5 million people voted, with 57.9% voting in favour of his proposal.
Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden proposed last month for the uber wealthy to begin paying capital gain taxes, which Musk publicly criticised. Wyden's proposal didn't get very far, however, but that didn't stop him from responding to Musk's latest Twitter post, writing: "Whether or not the world’s wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn’t depend on the results of a Twitter poll. It’s time for the Billionaires Income Tax."
In September, the billionaire and his partner Grimes ended their three-year relationship. They have a child together named "X Æ A-XII", or "X" for short.