Elon Musk Says This Is How Much He Would Pay In Taxes This Year

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk has disclosed how much he would pay in taxes this year.

What Happened: The entrepreneur said on Twitter Sunday that his tax bill for this year is a whopping $11 billion.

Musk has sold shares of Tesla since early November to foot his tax bill.

Until mid-December, Musk had sold 12.7 million Tesla shares. The CEO is not paid a salary but is instead compensated by the way of stock options. He has also exercised nearly 15 million options.

Musk, who was named “Person of the Year” by Time Magazine for 2021, has seen his popularity rise as that of traditional institutions declines, according to Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal.

“I think the role of the government should be that of a referee but not a player on the field. Government should not impede progress,” said Musk earlier in the month.

The net worth of Musk has burgeoned to $243 billion in 2021, a year-to-date increase of $87.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index. He is placed on the top of that list — above the likes of Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft Corporation MSFT co-founder Bill Gates.

Why It Matters: Recently, Musk lobbed an insult at Warren after she called him a “freeloader.” The senator called for a change to the "rigged tax code” so that the “Person of the Year will actually pay taxes.”

Musk’s disclosure got the attention of Twitter pretty quickly. Dogecoin DOGE/USD co-creator Billy Markus commented on the social media platform that Musk has paid “literally more than anyone has ever paid in history.”

trash government: “pay your share”

elon: “ok here is literally more than anyone has ever paid in history”

trash government: “wow what a freeloader, now please everyone in the USA give us more money and we will print 2.5 trillion more from thin air”
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) December 20, 2021