[onetimeusename]

The country loses? It is not zero sum, the money Tesla saves does not just go under someone's mattress, it helps make Tesla's products cheaper or improve the company in some way or raise the value of its securities that citizens of this country own.

[bluthru]

I could use the same arguments for me or other businesses not paying income tax.

>or raise the value of its securities that citizens of this country own

Right, it's the citizens subsidizing the shareholders. This is not a good thing.

[onetimeusename]

this isn't meant to be an argument that no tax ought to be paid, simply that it is not a loss for our country if fewer taxes are paid. If you are worried non shareholders pay more and gain less, they are free to invest, but shareholders inevitably pay capital gains tax.

[bluthru]

>simply that it is not a loss for our country if fewer taxes are paid

I consider citizens bearing more of the tax burden to be a loss for our country, along with less taxes being paid when we have debt.

>If you are worried non shareholders pay more and gain less, they are free to invest

You can't be serious.

>but shareholders inevitably pay capital gains tax

At a capital gains tax rate, which greatly contributes to wealth inequality: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2207372

[onetimeusename]

>I consider citizens bearing more of the tax burden to be a loss for our country, along with less taxes being paid when we have debt.

Ok, well you are making an argument about ethics and not about monetary losses because it seems that a net gain to economy through reduced taxes would still be a loss to you for above reasons.

>You can't be serious.

people earning 13k usd per year spend 9% of income on lottery tickets so it was indeed a serious point.

[bluthru]

>you are making an argument about ethics and not about monetary losses

A "net gain" isn't good enough. Tesla generating $1 in tax revenue is a net gain. The fact is that this new business does not depend on tax abatements, and if we had politicians with spines Tesla wouldn't get one.

[onetimeusename]

This debate is over if you cannot reason that economic improvement as a result of a tax break can offset hypothetical revenue losses. There are states that already have no income tax and the citizens of those states and business owners have benefited and thus from that perspective, it seems you are unwilling to debate the harm that taxes can do but only argue for their good which is ethics. If taxes were at 100% and one state offered a rate of 99%, the same argument would apply and thus you are unwilling to examine effects to the economy but rather argue the value that tax revenue has over personal revenue. Adieu.