Tesla reported $2.3 billion of U.S. income in 2024 but paid zero federal income tax. Over the past three years, the Elon Musk-led company reports $10.8 billion of U.S. income on which its current federal tax was just $48 million.
Let’s tax people like we do companies, on their profits. Oh you had rent, doesn’t count, you had to buy food and clothes and pay childcare, doesn’t count. Oh you had left over you invested? Taxed. Oh you were out of work after being laid off? Carryover credits for next year.
But we’d have to do the math and figure out how to actually pay for government services. It’s a nice thought, but there is no way this would work. You’d need a ton of other tax reform, and even then I don’t think we’d come close. The end result would be mandatory consumption taxes for all public services, which would end as the same amounts we pay now.
Let’s tax people like we do companies, on their profits. Oh you had rent, doesn’t count, you had to buy food and clothes and pay childcare, doesn’t count. Oh you had left over you invested? Taxed. Oh you were out of work after being laid off? Carryover credits for next year.
Imagine how quickly loopholes would get closed if the plebs were exploiting them too.
But we’d have to do the math and figure out how to actually pay for government services. It’s a nice thought, but there is no way this would work. You’d need a ton of other tax reform, and even then I don’t think we’d come close. The end result would be mandatory consumption taxes for all public services, which would end as the same amounts we pay now.
I saw a comment the other day that read along the lines of
Now that’s an idea, fhen we can all rort the system