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Elon Musk Claims He’s Paying ‘$11bn In Tax’ This Year

Elon Musk tax
Credit: Tesla Intelligence UK via YouTube & Unsplash

Elon Musk, TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year, has claimed he will pay $11 billion in tax in 2021. 

The richest man in the world, who is also the CEO of Tesla, says the bill is more than ‘any American’s in history’. 

Taking to Twitter, he wrote: “For those wondering, I will pay over $11 billion in taxes this year.” 

Watch what Elon Musk gifted his mother for mother’s day below… 

The tweet comes after Senator Elizabeth Warren’s allegation that he’s ‘freeloading’ off everyone else.

Warren hit out at Musk after he was named TIME’s Person of the Year, tweeting: “Let’s change the rigged tax code so the Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else.”

Musk hit back, saying: “You remind me of when I was a kid and my friend’s angry Mom would just randomly yell at everyone for no reason.

“Please don’t call the manager on me, Senator Karen.”

Musk sold off a large number of stock options this year which he will have to pay a substantial tax bill for.

He has also sold a large chunk of Tesla shares to meet his tax obligations.

According to reports, the 50-year-old doesn’t take a salary or cash bonus from his company, meaning the stock options are part of his compensation plan.

His wealth comes from stock awards and gains in the Tesla share price.

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As he exercises those stock options, Musk has to pay tax on the gains which is what has prompted the bill. 

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doesn’t publicly disclose the tax information of individuals, so it cannot be confirmed that Musk is paying the biggest tax bill in history. 

His personal wealth currently sits at $255 billion USD, according to Forbes, it overtook that of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in January this year. 

Watch our Video of the Day below… 

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Written by Aimee Walker

Aimee is a senior content editor at IGV who specialises in finding the best original stories, trending topics and entertainment news. She graduated from Birmingham City University with a degree in Media and Communications.