Tesla, the electric car company led by former Trump administration special government employee Elon Musk, released its annual financial report Thursday, showing that it doubled its yearly income in 2025 over the previous year and brought in $5.7 billion.

The company, whose CEO spent several months rooting out what he claimed was fraud and waste across the federal government, reported “precisely zero current federal income tax” on the billions it made, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).

The group explained that Tesla used accelerated depreciation, reducing the value of its capital assets, while also slashing its tax bill with tax breaks for its executive stock options

    • essell@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      And the same as me!

      But then I don’t live in America.

      Though that doesn’t always stop them expecting someone to pay taxes

  • NarrativeBear@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Rules for thee, but not for me.

    I dont understand why people are not more upset about this and rioting. I guess everyone is just burnt out tbh.

  • danc4498@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Personally, I think the goal of all companies should be to pay $0 in taxes, and our tax code should be written in a way that encourages them to spend their revenue on their employees.

    The group explained that Tesla used accelerated depreciation, reducing the value of its capital assets, while also slashing its tax bill with tax breaks for its executive stock options

    NotLikeThis.jpg

      • danc4498@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        Not sure what you mean. Companies pay $0 in taxes all the time, but by using BS accounting tricks like Tesla is now. Instead that money would go to employees who pay taxes.

  • hakase@lemmy.zip
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    10 hours ago

    This is a non-story (except for the continuing fact that the way stock options are taxed is bullshit).

    Tesla not paying taxes is a good thing, because it means they’re losing buckets of money from people not buying their trash cars.

    Tesla’s revenue being 4 billion or 10 trillion doesn’t matter if their expenses exceed that income - you don’t pay taxes on your business either if your business expenses exceed your revenue.

    And accelerated depreciation is perfectly consistent with GAAP as long as you’re consistent with your reporting - it just means you get more of a tax benefit on depreciation in the short-term and lose out on that benefit in the long-term.

    • green_red_black@slrpnk.net
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      10 hours ago

      Hate to break it to you but the reason Tesla is paying $0 isn’t its expenses being higher than its revenue.

    • timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works
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      7 hours ago

      I mean… I take issue with the tax code being that personally. Idgaf if your company loses money or not- you pay taxes. It’s not the problem of society to make sure your company can write off a bad year. If you fail, you fail. American taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bill for failing businesses or creative businesses.

    • Steve@startrek.website
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      10 hours ago

      Nobody understands the difference between revenue and profit, and the “Elon bad” crowd doesnt want to hear it anyway.

      This is a simple circle jerk.