Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, donated 5.04 million shares of his Tesla company to philanthropy in November, according to a stock market document released late Monday, without specifying the recipients. .
This represents $5.7 billion in the closing price of Tesla shares on the days the donations were made, and $4.4 billion in the closing price. closing this Monday.
The transactions were made when Musk disposed of shares to meet tax obligations arising from exercising stock options.
According to calculations by the Wall Street Journal, the billionaire gave up a total of more than $16 billion worth of Tesla shares in the last two months of 2021.
Musk, who also owns SpaceX, indicated in a tweet in early December that he would pay $11 billion in taxes by 2021. Donations often reduce the tax bill.
The businessman, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine at US$ 238 billion (R$ 1.23 trillion), responded several times on Twitter to comments by American politicians such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who defend the creation of a tax on the wealth.
Analysts say donating Tesla shares could generate a tax break for Musk, as the shares donated to charities are not subject to capital gains tax, as they would be if they were sold.
“Your tax benefit would be huge,” said Bob Lord, an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies who studies tax policy.
“He would save between 40% and 50% of the $5.7 billion in taxes, depending on whether he could deduct his California income, and avoid the earnings tax he would have to pay if he sold the stock.”
Lord added that Musk may have donated the shares to intermediaries, such as “donor-advised funds”, rather than directly to charities.
Musk in 2012 signed the “Giving Pledge” initiative, launched in 2010 by investor and entrepreneur Warren Buffett, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and his then-wife Melinda Gates, encouraging billionaires to donate at least 50% of their fortunes to charity.
(With Reuters)
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