Tech billionaire Elon Musk has almost fulfilled his November promise to sell 10% of his Tesla stock after famously putting the decision up to a poll of his twitter followers. With his latest sale Musk is nearing completion of that goal.
The sale came as Musk skirmished in twitter with US lawmakers on the issue of taxes, with Senator Elizabeth Warren accusing Musk, who does not draw a salary at Tesla, of “freeloading off everyone else” for not paying federal income taxes in 2018.
Now Musk may end up paying the largest single individual tax bill in US history expected to total more than $11 billion.
Musk has gone on record that he is against capital gains tax since he considers business a better allocator of capital than government.
The stock sale also corresponds to the exercise of stock options, which would otherwise expire in August. Tesla stock has risen 53% in the year-to-date.
