--- title: "Elon Musk Is Letting a Twitter Poll Decide Whether He Sells $21 Billion in Tesla Stock" description: "Tesla CEO Elon Musk waded into tax discourse this weekend, saying that he'd sell $21 billion in Tesla stock depending on the results of a Twitter poll." date: "2021-11-07" modified: "2021-11-07" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-twitter-poll-tesla-stock" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Tesla" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "stock" - "tesla" - "twitter" --- # Elon Musk Is Letting a Twitter Poll Decide Whether He Sells $21 Billion in Tesla Stock ![Tesla CEO Elon Musk waded into tax discourse this weekend, saying that he'd sell $21 billion in Tesla stock depending on the results of a Twitter poll.]() *BERLIN, GERMANY DECEMBER 01: SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer Award 2020 on December 01, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Britta Pedersen-Pool/Getty Images) \Image: Getty Images\* Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk waded deep into tax and wealth discourse this weekend, saying that he was open to selling what amounts to $21 billion in Tesla stock — and that he'd actually do it, depending on the results of a Twitter poll. "Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10 percent of my Tesla stock," the mercurial billionaire [tweeted]() on Saturday afternoon. "Do you support this?" As of Sunday morning, just over 57 percent of 3.1 million respondents had voted that Musk should indeed sell the stock. Musk is a [chronic memelord](), but the stunt wasn't just another joke, he insisted. "I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes," he [tweeted in followup](). Musk has become fabulously wealthy over the past few years, rocketing ahead of the former world's richest person, Jeff Bezos, to a staggering total of more than a third of a trillion dollars as of [this past week](). Because most of those riches are tucked away in stocks, Musk doesn't get taxed under current rules unless he sells. "Note, I do not take a cash salary or bonus from anywhere," he [added on Twitter](). "I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock." Of course, that's a somewhat self-serving framing of the issue. The reality he stridently opposed a rule that would tax billionaires based on unrealized gains as recently as two weeks ago. In general, you get the sense that Musk doesn't think governmental organizations are efficient at allocating money. This past week, in fact, he got into [one of his relentless feuds]() with the director of the United Nation’s World Food Program, who had [urged billionaires to contribute funds]() to feed some of the world's hungriest people. "If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it," [Musk tweeted]() in that particular tiff. "But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent." Not everybody was thrilled with Musk's latest gambit. "Looking forward to the day when the richest person in the world paying some tax does not depend on a Twitter poll," said Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman Gabriel Zucman. But Musk, ever the meme poster, [posted a track]() called "HighRoller" — an apparent reference to putting his financial fate in the hands of Twitter — by the iconic electronica duo The Crystal Method. **More on Elon Musk:** [*Elon Musk Deletes Sexist Tweets*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()