he is known to like to publish quite unusual (that’s a mild term) posts on social media. Some of the entries affect the rates of his companies, others – the cryptocurrency quotes. Over the weekend, the billionaire decided to ask over 62 million followers of his profile if he should sell some of his shares in the company
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Elon Musk did a Twitter poll. It’s about Tesla shares
Musk has offered to sell 10 percent. Tesla shares he owns. About two hours before the end of the poll (after 5:00 p.m. Polish time on Sunday), 57 percent voted for this proposal. participating in the survey. In total, over 3.2 million followers of Musk’s Twitter profile cast their votes.
The billionaire also assured that he would follow the results of the poll, no matter what they were.
Elon Musk has about 22 percent. Tesla shares, and 10 percent. these shares are worth over $ 20 billion. The post appeared in reference to the discussion on a new tax for the richest that has been going on in the United States for several months.
It’s not hard to guess that Musk is not a supporter of this idea. At the beginning of his Saturday post, he said that there was a lot of talk about the so-called unrealized gains are a way to avoid taxes, so he can sell the shares and then pay the tax (the rate is 20%). In the USA, the tax is paid only on the profits from the sale of stock exchange shares, not on the mere increase in their quotation and thus the increase in the owner’s wealth (the so-called Belka tax works similarly in Poland).
Tesla quotes on Wall Street, annual chart. Source: investing.com
United States. Discussion on increasing taxes for the richest
And that’s what would change. On the one hand, with the rising ratings on Wall Street, the richest are getting richer and some politicians believe that they pay disproportionately small taxes in relation to the growth of their wealth. This summer, a report appeared on the website, ProPublica, which deals with journalistic investigations, according to which Musk did not pay a dollar in income tax in 2018, he reminds. The billionaire defended himself, claiming that the analysis was “tricky” and “misleading”.
He wrote on Saturday to point out that he does not receive any salary or bonus in cash from any source. “I only have shares, so the only way for me to pay my taxes personally is to sell the shares,” he said.
Musk’s Twitter action was commented on by the creator of the new billionaire tax, Senator from the Democratic Party, Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate’s finance committee. “Whether the richest man in the world pays any taxes or not should not depend on the results of the Twitter poll. Time for the billionaire income tax,” he said.
According to supporters of the proposal, the tax revenue would help finance some public spending. Whether or not it will come into force is not a foregone conclusion, it is stuck in Congress for the time being. There is one more point. CNBC notes that Musk announced in September that it would sell its stake in Tesla. This is related to his options to buy the company’s shares, which will expire soon.
Elon Musk is currently the richest man in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His fortune is estimated (as of Friday, after the US stock market is closed) at $ 338 billion and clearly stands out from the rest. Next on the list, Jeff Bezos has a net worth of $ 202 billion.
Source: Gazeta
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