Of course they would have to pay taxes, capital gains, however I think your confused. The shorts have not covered their position, to think they could cover 500M shares without the price exploding is silly. They are still sitting on a short position between 2 and 5 times the float. They will be losing billions on this when all is said and done. Don't get fooled into thinking the shorts have covered. Sure maybe the children bailed, but there is a strong group of people holding, who know they have shorty trapped.