US lawmakers have introduced bills that would tax unrealized gains and billionaire wealth, potentially imposing massive tax bills on Elon Musk. Senator Ron Wyden's Billionaires Income Tax would mark tradable assets to market annually, applying the existing 23.8% top capital gains rate to paper gains; in the first year, Musk could owe about $220 billion on his roughly $945 billion fortune, payable over five years. Senator Elizabeth Warren's Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act would levy a 2% annual tax on net worth above $50 million and 3% above $1 billion, costing Musk about $28.3 billion per year. A separate California ballot measure proposes a one-time 5% tax on billionaires, which would take about $47 billion from Musk, though backers have floated a compromise 2% rate. These figures are hypothetical, as Musk resides in Texas and none of the proposals are law, but they illustrate the potential scale of such taxes on his stock-heavy wealth.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Class A Common StockProposed US bills would tax unrealized gains and billionaire wealth, potentially imposing massive tax bills on Elon Musk, the founder and key figure of SpaceX.