Tesla CEO and world’s richest man Elon Musk has declared that he will pay $11 billion in taxes this year. Musk made the announcement after US Senator Elizabeth Warren attacked the SpaceX CEO and said that he should start paying taxes and “stop freeloading off everyone else”.
For those wondering, I will pay over $11 billion in taxes this year
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2021
Warren’s comment came after Musk was declared as the “Person of the Year” by Time Magazine. The Democratic Senator and the SpaceX CEO had then engaged in a war of words on Twitter, with Musk saying that this year, he would pay more taxes than an American in history. Musk has also compared Warren to a friend’s angry mother, who would” just randomly yell at everyone for no reason”.
Stop projecting! https://t.co/Kibp6aS9vL
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 14, 2021
Musk’s latest tweet has gone viral, with many people being skeptical of the billionaire’s claim of paying $11 billion in taxes this year.
Many asked him to pay more than the amount he was claiming.
https://twitter.com/litcapital/status/1472755064867483649
Some people were supportive of Musk, saying that the money would be taken by the government for its own purposes rather than for actual development of the people.
https://twitter.com/greg16676935420/status/1472755235978371082
Some people asked for the Tesla CEO to make his tax returns public.
https://twitter.com/MrDunes/status/1472760002171580416
Others were skceptical if the amount Musk was claiming he would pay would actually impact his net worth.
https://twitter.com/catrific/status/1472773375047004161
It would be a record payment to the US government’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS), if Musk does pay $11 billion in taxes.
The world’s richest man has recently sold over $14 billion of Tesla shares in the last few weeks. Musk currently has a net worth of approximately $1 trillion.
The recent spat between The Tesla CEO and Senator Warren comes against the backdrop of the US government’s efforts to tax the super-rich, according to MoneyControl. The Senate Democrats have put forward a proposal that could tax tradable assets and stocks of billionaires’ to help close the loophole that has allowed the super-rich to indefinitely defer capital gains taxes.