Musk, the "largest taxpayer" in U.S. history: Paid $11 billion in personal taxes this year

CNN reported on the 20th that Musk, founder and CEO of electric car manufacturer Tesla, said on social media Twitter on the 19th that he will pay $11 billion in personal taxes this year and claims to be the "largest taxpayer" in the history of the United States.

Earlier, after Time magazine named Musk "Person of the Year," U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted 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.

In October, U.S. Senate Treasury Committee Chairman Ron Wyden unveiled a tax proposal that would impose a "billionaire income tax" to cover the Biden administration's efforts to expand Social Security and combat climate change. But Musk has publicly opposed such a "rich man's tax" in a recent interview.

ProPublica's june report also said that in addition to Musk, U.S. billionaires such as Bezos and their companies pay little tax. Billionaires like Bezos pay even less than 1 percent of their personal income tax — the average American pays 14 percent. The plutocrats evade taxes by registering companies in "tax havens" and other means. European countries have also complained that billionaires and their companies pay too little tax. Many European billionaires from countries with higher tax rates, such as Germany, also avoid taxes by emigrating to Switzerland. ▲

Zhao Dong, a special correspondent of this newspaper