How’s Michael Saylor gonna get out of this one?
Covered:
- DC AG Suing Saylor
- What This Means For Bitcoin And Microstrategy
DC AG Suing Saylor
With this lawsuit, we’re putting residents and employers on notice that if you enjoy all the benefits of living in our great city while refusing to pay your fair share in taxes, we will hold you accountable.
— AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) August 31, 2022
Just weeks after stepping down as CEO of Microstrategy, Michael Saylor is getting sued by the District of Columbia (DC) Attorney General (AG) for tax fraud — Saylor is a resident of DC. Microstrategy, the company Saylor is still apart of as chairman, is also a party in the lawsuit and is accused of helping Saylor evade paying his fair share of tax to the district.
“NEW: Today, we’re suing Michael Saylor – a billionaire tech executive who has lived in the District for more than a decade but has never paid any DC income taxes – for tax fraud,” Karl A. Racine, DC Attorney General, said via Twitter, before adding, “With this lawsuit, we’re putting residents and employers on notice that if you enjoy all the benefits of living in our great city while refusing to pay your fair share in taxes, we will hold you accountable.”
Saylor denies he’s a true resident of the Washington, D.C. area. His defense? He’s not registered to vote there. “Florida is where I live, vote, and have reported for jury duty, and it is at the center of my personal and family life,” Saylor said. “I respectfully disagree with the position of the District of Columbia, and look forward to a fair resolution in the courts.”
The district disagrees with his understanding of what makes someone a resident and instead believe he is already one because he lived in his Washington penthouse for more than 183 days, the minimum considered to be a “Statutory resident” for tax purposes.
Microstrategy had been accused of accounting-related fraud by the SEC over 20 years ago. They settled with the commission without a public admission of guilt.
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What This Means For Bitcoin
Nothing. To put it bluntly, this is just rich people s**t.
For whatever reason, the more money you make the less you want to pay taxes. Sure, raw number-wise you pay more, but percentage-wise you’re paying a fair share. Nevertheless, it’s hard to get over this for many CEO libertarian types. Many of them will even risk jail time, even though it’s a drop in the bucket for them in the long run.
Though, there doesn’t appear to be anything really nefarious here, either. It’s likely he just felt like DC didn’t deserve his hard-earned money just because he maybe stayed for a couple of days over the Statutory Resident minimum. It doesn’t sound like there is anything really outside of a rich guy thinking he can do what he wants. It definitely has no relationship with Microstrategy’s previous fraud lawsuit, too.
Regardless, this shouldn’t have any effect on Bitcoin moving forward. Some trolls may use this as another reason to virtue signal on Twitter and preach the inherent badness of crypto and Bitcoin, but this has nothing to do with that. But hey, for once, Saylor made the news for something that didn’t have anything to do with Bitcoin.
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