Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk agreed with an assessment made by YouTuber David Lee that the government would take the lion’s share of his stock compensation plan.
What Happened: Musk responded to a Twitter thread posted by Lee on Monday in agreement.
Lee had broken down Musk’s 2018 compensation plan, consisting of stock options. The plan mandates that the options be exercised by January 2028 and could equal 101 million shares.
The host of the YouTube channel “Dave Lee on Investing” said the 101 million shares could be worth $239 billion if, by January 2028, the price rose to $5,000 per share.
Lee gave a breakdown of taxes Musk is liable to pay and arrived at a total of 47.35% and then pointed to the current estate tax rate of 40%, which would mean that the government would get nearly 69 million out of the 101 million shares due to be paid out to Musk.
As per Lee, the estate tax in the U.S. could rise to 50%, which would put the government’s share at 74.4 million shares or 73.6%, which is almost three-fourths.
Accurate thread
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 16, 2021
Musk said in response that it was an “accurate thread.”
See Also: How To Buy Tesla (TSLA) Shares
Why It Matters: Dogecoin DOGE/USD co-creator Billy Markus too jumped onto the thread and pointed out that Tesla had given out “many billions of dollars” to the government simply due to its existence.
Musk agreed and said that Tesla would “generate hundreds of billions” for the government.
Indeed. Over time, Tesla will generate hundreds of billions for the government in terms of employee income tax, product sales tax and property tax, in addition to profit taxation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 16, 2021
On Monday, Musk sold $946.6 million worth of Tesla shares to satisfy tax withholding obligations, as per U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Last week, it was reported the cumulative sale of Tesla shares had amounted to $5.7 billion. The sale came after Musk conducted a poll among his Twitter followers asking them if he should sell 10% of his stock.
Recently, Musk insulted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) after the latter called for increased taxes on the ultra-rich.
Price Action: On Tuesday, Tesla shares closed nearly 4.1% higher at $1,054.73 in the regular session and gained 0.33% in the after-hours trading.
Photo: Courtesy of Nvidia Corp. on Flickr
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