According to foreign media reports on December 20, Tesla CEO Elon Mus said that he will pay about $11 billion (about 70 billion yuan) in taxes this year, saying that this will create a miracle in the amount of individual tax paid in U.S. history. In fact, Musk issued this statement in response to the allegations of Elizabeth Warren, who said musk was "eating white food."
Musk reportedly sold a large number of stock options this year, which is why he has to pay such high taxes. In 2012, Musk received 22.9 million Tesla stock options, and so far, he has used nearly 15 million, with the remaining 7.9 million due in August 2022. In addition, Musk sold a large number of shares in Tesla to fulfill his tax obligations.
Since Musk doesn't receive a salary or cash reward from Tesla, stock options are part of his compensation plan, so his wealth comes from stock rewards and gains from Tesla's stock price. In 2012, when he first received stock options, the stocks were executed at $6.24 (about 40 yuan) per share. As of last week, Tesla shares were $12,222.09 (about 77,867 yuan) per share, and Musk's option gains were just under $28 billion (about 178.3 billion yuan).
When Musk exercises these stock options, he has to pay taxes on the gains, which some media predict could reach $15 billion (about 95.6 billion yuan). However, Musk himself said his tax bill will be around $11 billion (about 70 billion yuan). The IRS does not publicly disclose tax information about individuals, so it's hard to tell if Musk will pay the largest tax in U.S. history. But, in any case, his personal wealth has reached $255 billion (about 1,624.6 billion yuan), and even if he pays $15 billion, it will not shrink.
After Musk was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year, Warren lashed out at him on Twitter: "Hopefully, The Man of the Year will really pay his taxes and stop taking advantage of others." Musk also shot back, "You remind me of when I was a kid, my friend's mom would yell at everyone for no reason. In January, Musk replaced Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world's richest man, though the two companies have repeatedly appeared at the top of the list depending on Tesla's stock price.