Elon Musk Tweets He'll Pay His 2021 Taxes, and It's Over $11 Billion

Last week, we had reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musk was set to become the highest taxpayer in the U.S. As per the reports, his tax bill was supposed to be around $12 billion dollars, unless he donated a large proportion of this sum to charitable foundations, including his own. Now, the man himself has confirmed this number. 

In his inimical style, Musk took to his favorite social media platform to declare this. 

For those wondering, I will pay over $11 billion in taxes this year

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2021

The tweet likely appears to be aimed at Senator Elizabeth Warren who has accused Musk of "freeloading off everyone else," as recently as last week when Musk was also declared, Time Magazine's Person of the Year. Musk then reverted with this claim that he would pay the highest taxes anybody has paid in American history, Reuters reported.

Musk's accounts team has done their calculations and given him almost the exact number that he has tweeted. This also confirms that Musk will not be offloading any more Tesla shares in the ten days remaining until the end of 2021. As we pointed out in our previous report, Musk's Twitter poll earmarked 10 percent of Tesla stock that he would sell. However, he has only sold 3.2 percent so far. So, it's safe to say that the remaining stock sale is unlikely to arrive this year. 

Business Insider reported that Musk, who does not receive a salary at Tesla, has 22.9 million stock options that are set to expire in August 2022. Musk can buy Tesla stock at $6.24 each even as the market price hovers over $900. But to do so, Musk has to pay taxes on his unrealized gains, which is resulting in over $11 billion this year. 

As usual, Musk's followers are of the opinion that the money would be better spent by himself rather than the federal government. In a recent Twitter poll, close to 82 percent of voters were in favor of Musk's ideals as well. In the past, he has also stated that he would rather use the money to put humanity on Mars. 

Musk does not see a lot of value in charity either, since he has largely remained silent on supporting the World Food Program after seeking details on how they plan to spend donations of six billion dollars.