If and when Elon Musk sells a large chunk of his Tesla shares, it'll probably have relatively little to do with a Twitter poll among his loyal followers — and everything to do with a looming multi-billion-dollar tax bill.
Musk published a Twitter poll over the weekend, noting that because he doesn't receive a cash salary he pays income tax only when he sells shares. And because"much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance," he asked the Twitterverse if he should sell 10% of his shares. Some 58% of respondents said yes.The tweet got attention, as many of Musk's social media antics do. But the move is not really about a populist vote.
The value of those shares and options comes to nearly $300 billion, making him the richest person in the world, but an analysis by ProPublica in June found Musk paid no federal income taxes in 2018 — and in 2017 he paid only $65,000. "Note, I do not take a cash salary or bonus from anywhere. I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock," Musk tweeted on Saturday.
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