Elon Musk is having an online meltdown as he faces the dread of paying taxes


The world’s richest man is at a crossroads. On one side: A proposed Billionaire Tax seeks to finally tax the 1% on unrealised gains such as stock. On the other hand, a Twitter Poll seeks to make the billionaire pay traditional tax after years of avoidance. What's going on with Elon Musk this time?

What is the Elon Musk Twitter Poll?

On Saturday, Elon Musk took to Twitter with a proposal. In order to lessen the negativity surrounding his tax avoidance, Musk gave Twitter two options. He could sell 10% of his Tesla stock to create realised gains or he could not.

Musk asked Twitter: “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?” He added: “I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes.”

Immediately after the poll went live, the Internet went haywire. Devout Musk followers who invested in Tesla ― to appease their Lord and Saviour ― begged him to not sell. On the other hand, those who want Musk to pay his fair share revelled at the chance to make the billionaire pay taxes.

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Commence: Musk Meltdown

The Elon Musk poll is over. With 3,519,252 votes, the Internet decided that the Tesla CEO should sell stock and, therefore, pay tax. However, since the poll started to skew in favour of tax time, Musk’s online presence has turned childish. Well, more childish than usual.

Initially, the Tesla CEO changed his Twitter name to the cringy “Lorde Edge” ― an unsurprising move for someone who changed their official job title to “Technoking”. However, then Musk took to childish bullying online.

In response to the poll, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden tweeted: “Whether or not the world’s wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn’t depend on the results of a Twitter poll. It’s time for the Billionaires Income Tax”. Musk “wittily” responded: “Why does ur pp look like u just came?”

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Why Elon Musk is actually selling Tesla stock

Despite all of this, Elon Musk’s Twitter poll stunt actually looks like a way of making the billionaire pay less tax. Reported by CNBC, Musk is facing a tax bill of $15 Billion, making a quick sale of Tesla stock a wise option to pay less.

Now, with a Twitter poll as evidence, Musk can blame enemies on a massive drop in Tesla stock price instead of himself. The online meltdown is probably, once again, just for show.

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