• Record-breaking donations in 2021 and 2022
• Tax advantages thanks to donations?
• A large part of the sum probably went to the Musk Foundation
According to a report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the tech entrepreneur Elon Musk donated 11.6 million Tesla shares worth $1.95 billion between August and December last year. However, the report does not indicate to which organization or organizations the donations were directed. Even after initial inquiries from Reuters and Markets Insider, Tesla has not made any statement about the recipients.
Tax savings model share donations?
In 2021, Elon Musk had already attracted attention with a record-breaking share donation: With a billion donation to an unnamed organization, he occupied 2021 behind Microsoft founders Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda rank second on the list of largest US donors.
As t3n quotes Bob Lord from the Institute for Policy Studies, the tech billionaire could save massive taxes with his stock donations – especially in a year in which Musk has to pay high taxes through stock sales. Because if Musk donates Tesla shares to charity, there would be no capital gains tax (like sales) to pay. “Between 40 and 50 percent of the $5.7 billion [könnte Musk] save on taxes depending on whether he can offset the deduction against his California income,” the expert told Tagesschau, according to t3n.
Furthermore, various media reported at the end of 2022 that the billion-dollar donation in 2021 should have gone to their own foundation. This would have a bad aftertaste for the donation, because it would not only result in enormous tax advantages for Elon Musk. Another criticism widely voiced by analysts and followers alike on social media is that Musk is using Tesla as an ATM to fund both tax debts and the Twitter takeover.
The choice of Musk’s charity advisor is also interesting: At the beginning of 2022 it became known that he had engaged the German-Russian poker pro Igor Kurganov for this task.
Musk Foundation: Little information
Elon Musk founded the Musk Foundation as a private foundation in 2002 together with his brother Kimbal. According to Influence Watch, the two brothers are the sole executives of the foundation, Elon Musk as president and board member and Kimbal Musk as secretary, treasurer and board member. There is little information on the Musk Foundation’s website, other than a list of the foundation’s areas of support. A profile of the foundation can also be found on Twitter, but no further information and only a single tweet from February 2021.
The foundation’s fields of activity largely coincide with the areas in which Elon Musk’s companies are also active: research and development in the field of renewable energies, space research, pediatric research, scientific and technical education and the development of artificial intelligence for the benefit of mankind.
According to a 2021 tax return available to Bloomberg, the Musk Foundation reportedly had $9.4 billion in assets as of December 2021.
Those tax filings also show that Musk, in addition to his own foundation, has donated millions of dollars to other charitable organizations, including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and school districts near the SpaceX spaceport in Brownswille, Texas. In addition, Musk has been a signatory to the “Giving Pledge” since 2012, an agreement in which billionaires pledge to donate at least 50 percent of their wealth to charity.
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