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Elon Musk Will Sell 10% of Tesla Stock to End Rumors He’s Not Paying Taxes

Most of us wouldn’t let strangers decide by poll what kind of cereal we should have for breakfast on a normal day, but Elon Musk is not like us. For starters, he’s currently the world’s richest man, with an estimated net worth of well over $300 billion.
Elon Musk lets Twitter decide whether he should sell 10% of Tesla stock to pay taxes or not 12 photos
Photo: YouTube / Tesla Intelligence UK
The Cybertruck makes an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, with Leno at the wheel and Musk riding shotgunThe Cybertruck makes an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, with Leno at the wheel and Musk riding shotgunThe Cybertruck makes an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, with Leno at the wheel and Musk riding shotgunThe Cybertruck makes an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, with Leno at the wheel and Musk riding shotgunThe Cybertruck makes an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, with Leno at the wheel and Musk riding shotgunThe Cybertruck makes an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, with Leno at the wheel and Musk riding shotgunThe Cybertruck makes an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, with Leno at the wheel and Musk riding shotgunThe Cybertruck makes an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, with Leno at the wheel and Musk riding shotgunThe Cybertruck makes an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, with Leno at the wheel and Musk riding shotgunThe Cybertruck makes an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, with Leno at the wheel and Musk riding shotgunThe Cybertruck makes an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, with Leno at the wheel and Musk riding shotgun
Not only is Musk incredibly rich, but he’s also determined to prove to the world that he’s a law-abiding citizen. Consequently, he’s polling on Twitter over whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock, to stop the rumors about how he’s been avoiding to pay taxes.

The issue goes back to a proposed bill to tax unrealized gains, which is what they call stock holdings. Someone like Musk, for instance, has a lot of the reported “wealth” tied up in various stock and it can’t be taxed until he sells the stocks – meaning, until he realizes the gains. The bill would target some 700 billionaires and Musk has been a vocal critic of it, Reuters notes.

Still, he wants everyone know he’s ready to do the right thing, but only if Twitter says so. As of the moment of press, he’s running a poll on whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock and pay taxes on the gains, or hold on to it. He will “abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes,” he promises, adding that he’s not taking a salary from anywhere, so the only way for him to pay taxes is by selling stock.

The poll will still be live for a few hours and, based on the current showing, it might decide that Musk should sell. However, before you think that Musk is being very cavalier about parting with more than $24 billion in stock, know this: chances are he would have had to do it either way. The same media outlet notes that “a large number of options” will expire in early 2022, so unloading stock was probably on the table from the start.

Still, the fact that Musk is taking stock market cues and even directions from a social media platform is unlikely to sit well with Tesla investors. Tesla stock could see a drop after recent record-breaking valuation, on the heels of the Hertz deal announcement.



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Editor's note: Photos in the gallery show Jay Leno and Elon Musk taking the Cybertruck for a test drive in early 2020.

About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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