Musk claims to be the largest taxpayer in the United States: he will pay tens of billions of dollars this year

On December 20, local time, Tesla founder and CEO Musk said on social media that he will pay $11 billion in personal taxes this year and claims to be the "largest taxpayer" in U.S. history.

Earlier, after Time magazine named Musk "Person of the Year," U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren mocked on social media that Musk should pay taxes and stop "taking money from other people." Musk responded, "If you open your eyes for two seconds, you'll understand that I'm going to pay more taxes this year than any American in history."

Business Insider said last week that Musk could pay $12 billion in taxes this year. This is calculated based on his stake in Tesla, the net investment income tax he has to pay, and the taxes he has to pay to the California government. The report also said that compared with Musk's large tax bill this year, the taxes he paid in the past were simply a "dime a dozen" relative to his wealth.

A survey released in June by proPublica, a nonprofit investigative news organization, showed that Musk paid only $455 million in taxes in total from 2014 to 2018, but his assets increased by $13.9 billion during that period. He did not pay federal income taxes in 2018. According to the report, in addition to Musk, American billionaires such as Bezos and their companies have paid little tax. Billionaires like Bezos pay less than 1 percent of their personal income tax — while the average American pays 14 percent.

Source: Look at news from The Knows Synthesis