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In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%

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Re: In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%

#101

Post by Maxatar »

quietbritishjim wrote: post #74
loeg wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't just throw revenue in the denominator, though. Business tax is assessed on income. If you're going to make a claim about tax rate using an unconventional metric, you need to be explicit about what you've done; Reich isn't.

> Business tax is assessed on income. Income (in a business) is another word for revenue. I think you meant: business tax is assessed on profit.

In the U.S. income is defined as revenue minus expenses:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_(United_States_legal_de...

Re: In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%

#102

Post by kccqzy »

ovi256 wrote: post #48
shubhamjain wrote: post #14

Where is this figure coming from? According to Meta's press release, the effective tax rate is 30% [1]. > The full year 2025 provision for income taxes includes the effects of the implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act during the third quarter of 2025. Absent the valuation allowance charge as of the enactment date, our full year 2025 effective tax rate would have decreased by 17 percentage points to 13%, co…

I bet the two sources won't agree on what values go into the denominator and / or numerator of their effective tax rate calculations. It can be as simple as the 3.5% being a calculated rate on revenue rather than profit

Even if you mistakenly calculate the rate on revenue, you will get 25474/200966=13%.

Re: In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%

#103

Post by mrgoldenbrown »

terminalshort wrote: post #92
shubhamjain wrote: post #14

Where is this figure coming from? According to Meta's press release, the effective tax rate is 30% [1]. > The full year 2025 provision for income taxes includes the effects of the implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act during the third quarter of 2025. Absent the valuation allowance charge as of the enactment date, our full year 2025 effective tax rate would have decreased by 17 percentage points to 13%, co…

Taxes are a subject of frequent liberal conspiracy theories. You will see all sorts of blatantly false claims like this because left wing misinformation spreaders like Robert Reich make up their own tax calculations that have no relation whatsoever to actual tax law.

No need to limit this to "liberal" conspiracy theories. Trump and his admin's statements on how tariffs and other taxes work and who pays them have been full of blatantly false claims.

Re: In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%

#104

Post by overrun11 »

youknownothing wrote: post #25

As someone who ran his own business for over eight years paying close to 30% tax (and is soon going to do it again), I have very mixed feelings about companies using tricks to reduce their tax burden. I mean, I like it when I do it, and I feel justified because there isn't that much that I can claim tax relief from, but seeing a big company paying such low tax rate feels wrong (even though it may be completely legal)…

21% has been the highest possible corporate tax rate since 2017. It's not really fair to compare what Meta pays now to what you paid under an entirely different tax regime. You would also pay less in taxes running your business today than you did previously.

Re: In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%

#105

Post by overrun11 »

thinkingtoilet wrote: post #54
youknownothing wrote: post #25

As someone who ran his own business for over eight years paying close to 30% tax (and is soon going to do it again), I have very mixed feelings about companies using tricks to reduce their tax burden. I mean, I like it when I do it, and I feel justified because there isn't that much that I can claim tax relief from, but seeing a big company paying such low tax rate feels wrong (even though it may be completely legal)…

You're acting like the game is fair. The game is heavily rigged to favor large companies. This is by design.

Most small businesses are pass through entities in the United States and pay no corporate taxes at all so it's certainly not the case that "The game is heavily rigged to favor large companies."

Re: In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%

#106

Post by TrainedMonkey »

loeg wrote: post #63
ovi256 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet the two sources won't agree on what values go into the denominator and / or numerator of their effective tax rate calculations. It can be as simple as the 3.5% being a calculated rate on revenue rather than profit

You can't just throw revenue in the denominator, though. Business tax is assessed on income. If you're going to make a claim about tax rate using an unconventional metric, you need to be explicit about what you've done; Reich isn't.

Sure, and there are a ton of ways to shifting income around. For example selling a subsidiary in lower tax jurisdiction patents and then paying for their usage. Another example is Hollywood accounting where productions pay exorbitant rates for equipment and catering to affiliated companies. This inflates the costs so the movies end up unprofitable despite smashing box office.

Re: In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%

#107

Post by Refreeze5224 »

gojomo wrote: post #69
loeg wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't just throw revenue in the denominator, though. Business tax is assessed on income. If you're going to make a claim about tax rate using an unconventional metric, you need to be explicit about what you've done; Reich isn't.

If you're Robert Reich, you can! You can make up anything, and someone will submit it to HN to waste everyone's time!

Yeah, screw Robert Reich! Always looking out for the workers who make up the majority of this country. Why won't he look out for the poor multi-national corporations, who have no one to advocate for them or their tax rates?

Re: In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%

#108

Post by akramachamarei »

stetrain wrote: post #76
kadabra9 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm shocked, absolutely shocked that a Bluesky post would be deliberately misleading to push a narrative that we need more taxes.

I don't know why that's specific to one social media network. I see deliberately misleading posts on all of them.

Sure, but being misleading to push for more taxes is more characteristic of Bluesky than many others.

Re: In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%

#109

Post by Refreeze5224 »

ralph84 wrote: post #55
tossandthrow wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is easy to excuse paying taxes. The issue that that taxes fundamentally bind two moralities: and individual and social one. Societies generally thrive better when there is a certain level of equality. Not a hundred percent, but enough for social mobility and for people to be aspirational. No or low taxes remove that opportunity. It bears people from taking an education and forces them in poverty.

Progressive taxation on income is specifically designed to prevent upward mobility from working.

This is totally true, if you ignore the entire history of taxation in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Re: In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%

#110

Post by thunky »

Refreeze5224 wrote: post #107
gojomo wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're Robert Reich, you can! You can make up anything, and someone will submit it to HN to waste everyone's time!

Yeah, screw Robert Reich! Always looking out for the workers who make up the majority of this country. Why won't he look out for the poor multi-national corporations, who have no one to advocate for them or their tax rates?

> Always looking out for the workers

How is spreading misinformation looking out for the workers?

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