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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%

#81

Post by loeg »

shevis wrote: post #79
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.

Income != profit. Income is revenue. It sure would be nice if businesses were taxed on income, given that’s how people are taxed and all. Aren’t corporations supposedly people now thanks to citizens united?

You're mistaken. Income is net of expenses. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/122214/what-differe...

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

#82

Post by tossandthrow »

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.

Taxes are a part of a broader redistributive system.

Mobility is given by ensuring that all have equal opportunity. Opportunity to learn, opportunity to start a business. Etc.

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

#83

Post by [deleted] »

loeg wrote: post #81
shevis wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Income != profit. Income is revenue. It sure would be nice if businesses were taxed on income, given that’s how people are taxed and all. Aren’t corporations supposedly people now thanks to citizens united?

You're mistaken. Income is net of expenses. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/122214/what-differe...

[deleted]

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

#86

Post by mindslight »

candiddevmike wrote: post #72
mindslight wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> estimated taxes are insane, especially the payment schedule for them when you're NET 30/60 Total layman understanding here, but can you not do cash basis plus schedule AI?

Kinda, for Q2 and Q3 you're expected to pay the full amount for the quarter about a month or so before it ends. So it's less the accounting method kinda and more I haven't been paid for a month that I already owe taxes for.

The periods aren't quite quarterly though. "Q2" ends on 5/31 and tax due 6/15, "Q3" ends on 8/31 and tax due 9/15. IIUC.

(I'm certainly not trying to argue that doing taxes 5 times a year isn't fucking onerous, though!)

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

#87

Post by abeppu »

shubhamjain wrote: post #49
abeppu wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's from this: https://itep.org/meta-tax-breaks-trump-mark-zuckerberg/

The post seems to be comparing quarterly figures for tax with annual profit. The doc they cite clearly $25B as provision for income tax.

I am not an accountant or finance professional but the table they refer to has the 2.8B under "current" and the 25B figure under "total". Is it just that of their 2025 taxes, they paid 2.8B during that calendar year and it's only Feb and the remaining was not yet actually paid out at the time that filing was prepared?

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

#88

Post by beezle »

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.

This is incorrect as anyone who has looked at a financial statement or taken a first level accounting class will know - Revenue is the top line, the gross income and lastly net income, the two reflecting the removal of various costs/expenses as per GAAP.

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

#89

Post by arcticfox »

philipallstar wrote: post #75
thinkingtoilet wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Meta is a company created in the last 20 years or so. You can make more big companies if you don't make it really difficult to do so.

"Why don't most people simply create billion-dollar companies so they can also benefit from tax benefits you can only capture at scale? As long as we make it easy to create billion-dollar companies this should work."

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

#90

Post by MichaelZuo »

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!

I thought there were systems designed to effectively negate users that submit too many misleading posts.
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