Twitter votes for Elon Musk to sell 10% of his Tesla stock

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A poll of Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk ended on Twitter Sunday, with voters calling for the billionaire to sell some of his Tesla shares as a way to force him to pay taxes.

The poll ended Sunday afternoon with just under 58 percent of voters agreeing that Musk should sell 10 percent of his stock.

A lot of unrealized gains have been made lately as a way to avoid taxes, so I’m suggesting selling 10% of my Tesla stock.

Do you support this?

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2021

Musk was criticized for revealing that he does not receive a salary and therefore does not pay income tax; Progressives argued that the loophole illustrated the need for a wealth tax in the United States.

On Saturday afternoon, he posted a Twitter poll with the accompanying promise: “I will stick with the results of this poll, whichever way you go.”

I don’t get a salary or a cash bonus from anywhere. I only have stock, so the only way for me to pay taxes in person is to sell stock.”

CEOs of large corporations are often criticized for using similar loopholes to protect their fortunes from US taxes; Companies like Amazon have also faced criticism for not paying federal income taxes, which Amazon did in 2019 for the first time in years. The company has also deferred more than $900 million in income tax debt, according to CNBC.

Although the poll’s results are geared toward Musk’s supposed tax payment, the arbitrary nature of the arrangement did not align with proponents of closing tax loopholes including Sean Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

“Whether or not the richest man in the world pays any taxes should not depend on the results of a Twitter poll. It is time to tax billionaires’ income.”

Musk previously pledged to donate money from the stock sale to the United Nations if the organization were to use it to end or dramatically eliminate world hunger. His pledge was in response to a request from David Beasley, head of the United Nations World Food Program.

Then he added a caveat: if he did, the UN would first have to commit to “open source accountability, so the public can see exactly how the money is being spent.”

The Tesla founder added: “Please post your current and proposed spending in detail so people can see exactly where the money is going. Sunlight is great.”

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