The estimate comes at the end of a year in which the billionaire’s tax contributions have been heavily scrutinized — amid public spats with progressives in Congress, during consideration of a billionaire tax to fund the Democrats’ social agenda, and after Time magazine named him “Person of the Year”.
A June ProPublica report estimated that Musk paid $68,000 in federal income taxes in 2015, $65,000 in 2017 and none in 2018.
The Journal estimated that the billionaire would need about $143 million to exercise those options, and could owe more than $9 billion to the federal government upon exercising them.
Musk opposed the proposed billionaire’s 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.”
The tech executive, who was recently accused of “freeloading” by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), has a net worth of $243 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Warren attacked the billionaire last week and said, “Let’s change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else.”
In response to Warren, Musk said that “if you open your eyes for 2 seconds, you would realize that I will pay more taxes than any American in history this year.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) also criticized Musk after he received Time’s distinction, saying in a statement that “The richest person in the world and yet he avoids paying his taxes while working families struggle to put food on the table and pay rent.”