Elon Musk says he will pay more taxes than anyone in history this year

by Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech | Dec. 16, 2021 | Dec. 16, 2021

Story at a glance

Tesla CEO Elon Musk might have to pay billions in taxes for expiring stocks.
The stocks were granted to Musk in 2012 as part of a compensation plan.
The stocks expire in August of 2022.

Elon Musk claims that he will pay more in taxes than anyone else in American history this year.

The Tesla CEO made the remark in response to a tweet from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) after she tweeted criticism of the country’s tax code which she called “rigged.”

Warren added in the tweet that the country should change the code in order to force billionaires like Musk to pay their fair share of taxes instead of “freeloading off of everyone else.”

Let’s change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else. https://t.co/jqQxL9Run6

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 13, 2021

Musk retorted by tweeting “and if you open your eyes for 2 seconds, you would realize that I will pay more taxes than any American in history this year.”

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

Musk will most likely face a tax bill of up to $10 billion for Tesla stock options that expire in the summer of next year, according to Insider, and so far the billionaire has exercised about 15 million of the 22.9 million Tesla stock options he was given in 2012 but still has 7.9 million options left to sell.

A 2018 ProPublica investigation revealed that Musk paid nothing in federal income taxes that year, according to Fortune, and paid less than $70,000 in taxes in 2017 and 2015.

Musk is currently the richest person on the planet with a net worth of $255 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Earlier this fall, Democratic senators proposed a new billionaires tax as a means to help fund President Biden’s “Build Back Better” initiative, according to The Washington Post. But the bill received almost immediate opposition, most notably from fellow Democratic lawmaker Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), and was left out of the $2 trillion social and climate package in December.

Musk has long opposed the proposed tax plan which would have forced him to pay up to $50 million over its first five years, tweeting that “eventually, they run out of other people’s money and come for you.”

For USA citizens opposed to the unrealized capital gains tax proposal by Senator @RonWyden , here is an example of a tactful and diplomatic letter template I made. You can use this or make/post your own. It’s important to write your elected reps.
cc: @JeffBezos @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/6BUDptr1Qq

— Rick McCracken (@RichardMcCrackn) October 25, 2021