Elon Musk says he’ll pay ‘over $500B in taxes’ over his lifetime. What the math says and how to lower your tax bill

The same report found that, based on IRS filings, Musk paid no federal income tax in 2018.A ProPublica investigation into confidential IRS data revealed that between 2014 and 2018, Musk reported roughly $1.52 billion in income and paid about $455 million in federal income taxes (5). That rate is far lower than the growth of his overall wealth during that period.That tax liability was triggered after Musk sold billions of dollars’ worth of Tesla shares and exercised stock options, which are taxed as income u ...