Musk, the world's richest man, said he would pay $11 billion in taxes this year, the highest for the U.S. Tax Office this year

On Dec. 20, Musk, the world's richest man, said on social media, "For those who are curious, I will pay more than $11 billion in taxes this year." According to Bloomberg, this amount is probably the largest tax the IRS has received to date.

Back on Dec. 15, Musk got into a verbal altercation on social media, saying he would pay more taxes this year than any American in history. At the time, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts criticized Musk for his tax problems by using Musk's appointment as Time Magazine's Person of the Year on social media, "Let's change the tax laws that are manipulated so that the Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop taking advantage of others." ”

To the accusation, Musk replied, "If you open your eyes for 2 seconds, you'll realize I'm going to pay more taxes this year than any American in history." ”

The latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows that Musk, the world's richest man, ranks first with a net worth of $243 billion, surpassing second-place Jeff Bezos's $195 billion.

But a June report by proPublica, a nonprofit news organization, mentioned that he paid very little income tax relative to Musk's vast fortune. From 2014 to 2018, Musk's wealth increased by $13.9 billion, but he paid only $455 million in taxes in total and did not pay federal income taxes in 2018.

Musk, however, countered that claim, saying he was neither paying from SpaceX nor Tesla, while the effective tax rate on his stock options exercised was 53 percent, adding that the tax rate was expected to increase next year.

Musk has exercised nearly 15 million stock options and sold millions of shares to pay taxes related to those transactions, bloomberg reported. If Musk exercises all of his options that expire next year, he could face more than $10 billion in tax bills in 2021.

And calls from Democratic politicians for "income taxes on billionaires" have also intensified. The tax is levied on about 700 super-rich people who hold more than $1 billion in assets or earn more than $100 million a year for three consecutive years. If this tax policy is implemented, Musk will pay up to $50 billion in taxes over five years.

Source: The Paper