World's Richest Billionaire Elon Musk "To Pay Over 13 Trillion Won in Taxes This Year"

Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced on the 19th (local time) that he will pay more than 13 trillion won in taxes this year.

On that day, Musk tweeted, "For those who are curious, I will pay over 11 billion dollars in taxes this year." 11 billion dollars is approximately 13.1 trillion won. According to major foreign media reports, this is the largest amount of tax ever paid by an individual to the National Tax Service.

Musk, considered the richest person in the world, has faced criticism for paying less tax than his wealth. When investigative journalism outlet ProPublica continued such criticism, Musk rebutted by stating that he does not receive a salary from Tesla and SpaceX and pays taxes at an effective rate of 53% after exercising stock options.

Meanwhile, Musk sold 12.9 million shares to cover taxes related to stock options. The funds secured amounted to 13.6 billion dollars. During this period, Musk exercised 17 million stock options.