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this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2024
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Write-offs are entirely misunderstood by people. Writing off losses doesn't magically make loss profitable.
I'll use myself as an example. I teach underwater photography at a university as a side gig. Last year I made about $3,000 teaching the class, and I also spent about $1,000 on underwater camera gear for the class. Because of that I get to reduce my taxable income by $1,000, so it's as if I made $2,000.
At my tax bracket a write-off reduces my income taxes by 22% of the expense. So on a thousand-dollar purchase I'm still losing nearly 800 bucks.
And you still have the value, nobody takes it away from you and you propably can sell it without loss which makes it still a good deal.
Of course it's better than not having the write-off. But it's not like it's free.
Business expenses aren't profit so they aren't taxed because it's money you didn't actually make.
Since most businesses operate on a small margin, removing tax deductions would make tax burdens higher than profits.
And it's not like that camera lens isn't being taxed. I'm buying it from a company that pays taxes on its profits and payroll and whose employees pay taxes, and on top of that I'm paying sales tax (to a different entity of course).