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Elon Musk<\/strong>, the world’s richest person, tweeted on Saturday that he would be dumping<\/strong> 10% of his Tesla shares<\/strong> if his followers approved<\/strong> the move. To do so, he published a poll<\/strong> with two simple answers, for or against the proposal. Three and a half million people took part in the vote, and 57.9% of them voted “for<\/strong>” the American billionaire’s proposal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In reaction, Tesla<\/strong> shares<\/strong> listed in Frankfurt<\/strong> fell by 7% over the weekend, finally reaching a 9% drop on Monday. In the United States<\/strong>, the electric car manufacturer’s share price has gained 73.2% since the beginning of the year. According to Reuters calculations, Elon Musk<\/strong> owned about $170.5 million worth of Tesla shares<\/strong> as of June 30, and the sale of 10 percent of them would amount to nearly $21 billion based on Friday’s close.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Prior to this Twitter poll, Elon Musk<\/strong> had said he would have to exercise a large number of stock options<\/strong> over the next three months, which would result in a large tax bill<\/strong>. Selling some of his shares is therefore a way to free up funds<\/strong> to pay his taxes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “There’s been a lot of talk lately about unrealized gains being a means of tax evasion, so I’m proposing to sell off 10% of my Tesla shares<\/em>,” Elon Musk<\/strong> said on Saturday, adding that he wasn’t taking cash pay<\/strong> or bonuses from “anywhere.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All this comes as US Senate Democrats<\/strong> unveiled a proposal to tax billionaires’ stocks<\/strong> and other marketable assets<\/strong> to help fund President Joe Biden’s social spending<\/strong> agenda, closing a loophole that allowed them to defer capital gains taxes indefinitely<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Finally, they run out of money for the rest of us, and then they come looking for you<\/em>,” Elon Musk<\/strong> said, criticising the plan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ron Wyden,<\/strong> the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee<\/strong> that introduced the tax proposal, said on Saturday: “Whether or not the richest man in the world pays taxes shouldn’t depend on the results of a Twitter poll.<\/em>”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n