Musk gives Twitter vote on selling $21bn of Tesla stock

ELON MUSK is poised to sell $21billion worth of Tesla stock after he put the decision to his Twitter followers in a poll, who decided he should.

The world’s richest man responded to criticism for not paying enough tax by tweeting: “Much is made lately of unrealised gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?”

Some 3,519,252 votes were cast, with the result of 57.9 per cent of people saying that they supported the sale.

“I was prepared to accept either outcome,” Mr Musk said after the result came through.

Mr Musk had promised to abide by the result, which would result in a multi-billion dollar tax bill that would be “at least in the 20 per cent range for capital gains”, according to Forbes.

The Tesla and Spacex founder is worth more than $300billion, but does not take home a salary or bonuses and paid no federal income tax in 2018.

But his actions have been condemned by US senator Ron Wyden, who said: “Whether or not the world’s wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn’t depend on the results of a Twitter poll.”

Mr Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and chair of the Senate finance committee, has been pushing for billionaires to pay taxes when stock prices go up even if they do not sell shares – a concept called “unrealised gains”.

“It’s time for the billionaires income tax,” he added.

Mr Musk’s holding in Tesla is around 170.5million shares, and selling 10 per cent would raise around $21billion (£15.5bn) based on Friday’s closing price.

He previously said he could face a “massive” tax bill this year as he has to exercise a large number of stock options coming due next year.

Mr Musk has an option to buy 22.86million shares at $6.24 each, which expires on August 13 next year, according to a Tesla filing. The company’s closing price was $1,222.09 per share on Friday.