You're hand waving away what the same way means. What if I make 500k once every five years? Should I pay taxes like I make 500k every year once, and nothing the

You're hand waving away what the same way means. What if I make 500k once every five years? Should I pay taxes like I make 500k every year once, and nothing the other 4 years? Should I be able to amortize that across 5 years? What if I bought a house and flipped it as a business venture? What costs count toward the business and what doesn't? You have to define all of that before you know what you've earned. Income is complicated, whereas a single transaction is very simple.