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I would love Musk an especially SpaceX to pay as least tax as possible. I sincerely hope SpaceX pays none. I would love other entrepreneurs to be as motivated a

I would love Musk an especially SpaceX to pay as least tax as possible. I sincerely hope SpaceX pays none. I would love other entrepreneurs to be as motivated as possible to do things like Musk does, and have them have as much funds for it as possible.

HenryKissinger 6y ago
Where do you draw the line between SpaceX and companies like it, and the rest?
- eru 6y ago
  Perhaps the commenter wants no companies to pay taxes? That's actually a pretty popular position amongst mainstream economists.
- TomMarius 6y ago
  Somewhere around taking the profit out of the corporation See Estonian corporate tax
doersino 6y ago
Apart from the unsolvable problem of where to draw the line for tax exemptions like that: If a for-profit company can’t succeed while contributing to society like everyone else, it’s just not worthwhile. Objectively innovative companies like SpaceX have few issues attracting funding, anyway.
deleted 6y ago
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bryanlarsen 6y ago
SpaceX doesn't pay any tax and it never will. To pay tax you have to make a profit. They're definitely not doing that now: both Starlink and Starship are each estimated to cost well over a billion dollars to develop, yet their revenue per launch is at most $20 million if you're generous. (edit: SpaceX has advised that Starlink will cost 2-3 billion to develop and Starship will cost 10 billion) Once Starlink gets going many expect it to rake in the cash but Musk has said quite explicitly that they're going to spend it on going to Mars. It wouldn't be hard to structure that spending either as expenses or charity. So again, no profit to be taxed on. This is of course why he's keeping SpaceX private. Investors have to understand that SpaceX's future profits are going to Mars, not back to the investors. edit: this isn't completely true. They do plan on spinning off Starlink, so if they do it should be profitable and pay taxes. Musk may shuffle his Starlink profits into a Mars expdition, but Starlink itself will pay taxes and other owners will end up paying capital gains taxes etc.

HenryKissinger 6y ago

Where do you draw the line between SpaceX and companies like it, and the rest?

eru 6y ago
Perhaps the commenter wants no companies to pay taxes? That's actually a pretty popular position amongst mainstream economists.
TomMarius 6y ago
Somewhere around taking the profit out of the corporation See Estonian corporate tax

doersino 6y ago

Apart from the unsolvable problem of where to draw the line for tax exemptions like that: If a for-profit company can’t succeed while contributing to society like everyone else, it’s just not worthwhile. Objectively innovative companies like SpaceX have few issues attracting funding, anyway.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

bryanlarsen 6y ago

SpaceX doesn't pay any tax and it never will. To pay tax you have to make a profit. They're definitely not doing that now: both Starlink and Starship are each estimated to cost well over a billion dollars to develop, yet their revenue per launch is at most $20 million if you're generous. (edit: SpaceX has advised that Starlink will cost 2-3 billion to develop and Starship will cost 10 billion) Once Starlink gets going many expect it to rake in the cash but Musk has said quite explicitly that they're going to spend it on going to Mars. It wouldn't be hard to structure that spending either as expenses or charity. So again, no profit to be taxed on. This is of course why he's keeping SpaceX private. Investors have to understand that SpaceX's future profits are going to Mars, not back to the investors. edit: this isn't completely true. They do plan on spinning off Starlink, so if they do it should be profitable and pay taxes. Musk may shuffle his Starlink profits into a Mars expdition, but Starlink itself will pay taxes and other owners will end up paying capital gains taxes etc.