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In 2025, Meta paid an effective federal tax rate of 3.5%
- shablulman 8mo ago[flagged]
- hsuduebc2 8mo agoI sometimes wonder how much net negative for humanity this company is. From the big players probably one of the worst.
- nmitchko 8mo agoCan someone make a startup that allows me to do this as an individual?
- candiddevmike 8mo agoJoin that startup as a founder, have a million+ exit and you will have the capability to do this as an individual.
- pimlottc 8mo agoDon't be poor, got it.
- draw_down 8mo ago[dead]
- yoyohello13 8mo agoGood life advice in general really.
- palmotea 8mo agoDon't know why so many people are so stupid they don't follow such simple and sensible advice. /s
- havefunbesafe 8mo agoEffective exit rate tax is around 24%
- loeg 8mo agoJoin Bluesky and you too can lie about whatever you want.
- dboreham 8mo agoIndividual Meta employees and shareholders couldn't do this either.
- terminalshort 8mo agoBut they can. Any Meta employee or shareholder is also free to go on Bluesky and tell lies about taxes.
- wang_li 8mo agoYou don't need a startup. Millions of people have an effective tax rate that is 0% and they have a net tax rate that is negative. They do this simply by having no meaningful skills or knowledge.
- TiredOfLife 8mo agoYou can make stuff up even on this site.
- swiftcoder 8mo agoIt's called a "farm" (note the quotes). You may need a few acres of very cheap rural land, and some chickens. The IRS loves chickens
- xnx 8mo ago> The IRS loves chickens Or even just bees: https://mountainsweethoney.com/state-guide-for-beekeeper-tax-breaks/ https://mountainsweethoney.com/state-guide-for-beekeeper-tax...
- hsuduebc2 8mo agoIt’s starting to feel almost hilarious how much of comically evil villains they are. I picture them as Robbie Rotten from LazyTown. https://characterprofile.fandom.com/wiki/Robbie_Rotten https://characterprofile.fandom.com/wiki/Robbie_Rotten
- yoyohello13 8mo agoMaybe it’s just more visible now but it seems like these companies are really accelerating in their evil lately. Probably because they know this admin’s going to do jack shit to protect people. Would be funny if it wasn’t also so scary.
- hsuduebc2 8mo agoI have the same observation. Not really sure what is the driver.
- braebo 8mo agoUnchecked power deteriorates empathy as classes drift further apart — an inevitability of un(der)regulated capitalism driving unprecedented inequality. This accelerates when the billionaire class seizes the levers of power and dismantle entire regulatory bodies like the Epstein class has done with the US government.
- hsuduebc2 8mo agoI see you are getting down votes. I'm not necessary agreeing with you But I'm curious what is the counter argument here. That it is just not true?
- braebo 8mo agoInteresting, I can’t see downvotes in the app Octal I use. I stand by my statement, though it is a generalization to be fair. I’m curious - which points do you disagree with and why?
- philipallstar 8mo ago> Trickle-down economics isn't just a hoax, it's corrosive to democracy. It's a hoax in that it's a straw man that no one advocates for.
- DauntingPear7 8mo agoThe current admin sure does seem to push for it
- tgv 8mo agoYou may read "supply-side economics" instead.
- nocoolnametom 8mo agoPerhaps, but the entire ecosystem of associated buzzwords/ideas is pretty popular in our culture today: "job creator" C-suite executives magically "create" jobs and/or raise pay because their budget for taxes goes down and they just don't know where else to put the cash, thus everyone benefits. Is it a straw man? Sure. Is it the same pablum often delivered by the evening news and politicians? Yes. Is reality a TON more complicated and often counter-intuitive? Yep. (Raising wages doesn't seem to have a _direct_ correlation to inflation, it's correlated but often lagging and muted in response; job creation seems to be mostly a market effect not corporate decision; the modern definition of "fiduciary duty" means extra cash should go toward immediate stockholder benefit so stock buybacks are always FAR more likely than employee benefits; etc; etc). The one area I'd push back strong on is that nobody is "advocating" for it. Many stockholding orgs/individuals are. They don't care if its a straw man, they know what the real-world systemic effects are of lower taxation rates.
- philipallstar 8mo ago> "job creator" C-suite executives magically "create" jobs and/or raise pay because their budget for taxes goes down and they just don't know where else to put the cash, thus everyone benefits. The real concept, which is actually true, is business owners and managers and investors have money - whether risking money for a startup, or spending revenue from customers - and that money goes into investing in infrastructure and paying salaries, and paying taxes. Their taxes then pay for the public sector employees' jobs and all other public costs. That hierarchy is why making sure people want spend their time and money in your country, because it pays for everything else.
- kelvinjps10 8mo agoBeing pro businesses, it's only available for big corporations because as a self-employed, it's close to 30%.
- candiddevmike 8mo agoI'm SE and there are quite a few tax breaks available, especially if you structure as a S-Corp. The hard part is figuring out what all tax breaks are available as they're constantly changing, like last year you can deduct dental insurance premiums. I still pay an eye watering amount, and being SE shows you the brutality of the system (estimated taxes are insane, especially the payment schedule for them when you're NET 30/60).
- mindslight 8mo ago> 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?
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- candiddevmike 8mo agoKinda, 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.
- mindslight 8mo agoThe 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!)
- butterbomb 8mo ago
- phendrenad2 8mo agoConventional conservative/capitalist wisdom is that corporations "don't pay taxes" because they just "pass it along to consumers as higher prices". That's why the juxtaposition here, that they are spending tens of millions to influence elections, is important. If corporations were just efficient market operators that moved goods and services, why so much lobbying? It's because the rich owners of corporations realized that with a small tweak, which we know retroactively as "Citizens United vs FEC", they could harness their corporate ownership to control the political, social, and governance landscape of the world.
- palmotea 8mo ago> Conventional conservative/capitalist wisdom is that corporations "don't pay taxes" because they just "pass it along to consumers as higher prices". I'm with you, but a couple things: 1) Do you mean "shouldn't pay taxes"? Because I'm pretty sure their thing is getting corporations (and the wealthy) to pay less taxes than they already do. 2) That's not wisdom, it's a propaganda-meme. It's a misleading little story (mainly through omission) meant to get people to support a policy that's bad for them.
- cl0ckt0wer 8mo agoindividuals should be able to take advantage of the same tax rules as corporations.
- anon291 8mo agoI mean you can. If you read the actual article: https://itep.org/meta-tax-breaks-trump-mark-zuckerberg/ https://itep.org/meta-tax-breaks-trump-mark-zuckerberg/ You just have to buy of equipment used for a business purpose that you can depreciate. You then put these on Form 4562 or something. This is a bit tongue in cheek. The American tax system is set up to tax at the point of consumption. There'd be no difference in how much money actually ended up in your hand if we switched everything over to a VAT, except a lot of people would probably be relieved of the psychological burden of taxes.
- oulipo2 8mo agoWell, we need taxes to have a functioning economy. So what is really needed is that we close loopholes that allow corporations to pay less than individuals Taxes is a net benefit (at least here in Europe): you basically get better services (that you would pay anyway) for much cheaper: education, healthcare, culture, etc
- palmotea 8mo ago> individuals should be able to take advantage of the same tax rules as corporations. Nah, corporations should be taxed at the same rate as individuals. A country where everyone pays only 3% tax is going to be a crap hole.
- randomtoast 8mo agoThe state would go bankrupt within a month or so.
- shubhamjain 8mo agoWhere is this figure coming from? According to Meta's press release, the effective tax rate is 30% [1]. > The full year 2025 provision for income taxes includes the effects of the implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act during the third quarter of 2025. Absent the valuation allowance charge as of the enactment date, our full year 2025 effective tax rate would have decreased by 17 percentage points to 13%, compared to the reported effective tax rate of 30%. [1]: https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/Meta-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2025-Results/default.aspx https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-deta...
- randomtoast 8mo agoThat's why I often ask for "Source?" — because sometimes people seem to make up numbers. However, whenever I do this, I receive a large number of downvotes. Maybe it's not common on HN to back up claims with sources.
- jannyfer 8mo agoThere is another possibility. “Source?” is a low effort comment, but GP’s is not.
- randomtoast 8mo ago[flagged]
- koakuma-chan 8mo agoToo brief, minus 10 marks.
- rohin15 8mo agoWhat benefit do you gain by having an llm write comments on HN? I don't get it.
- jonas21 8mo agoThis is also a low effort comment, despite the word count. In contrast, shubhamjain found Meta's earnings release for the specified time period, quoted numbers that appear to contradict the claim, and provided a link to the release. This adds to the conversation, while a comment that says "Source?" or a few paragraphs that can be reduced to "Source?" do not.
- tacticalturtle 8mo agoUnless he links directly to evidence that backs up what he says, I’ve learned to tune out Robert Reich. For a guy who is a Rhodes Scholar, a college professor, and a former Secretary of Labor he has a remarkable tendency to leave out qualifying context when making these statements. He’s smart enough to formulate arguments with the appropriate context and still make it accessible to the general public - but he consistently chooses not to. A few weeks ago he was trying to compare the “millionaire tax” of my home state of Massachusetts, with the proposed California wealth tax as evidence that the California tax would not cause flight of wealthy taxpayers: https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/videos/what-really-happens-when-you-tax-the-rich/872114795442412/ https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/videos/what-really-happens-... Never once did he mention that the Massachusetts tax is a bog standard conventional tax on income, compared to this new concept of a global total wealth tax.
- ecshafer 8mo agoLies, damned lies and statistics. They are fudging statistics so they arent technically lying but leave out context and stretch definitions to make their point.
- 1-6 8mo agoI wonder if tax returns of corporations could be made public data.
- randomtoast 8mo agoIt could but then it would show that the effective tax was not 30% but 3% and there is a strong lobby in Washington against that.
- loeg 8mo agoYou think public companies are just lying in their audited financial statements?
- randomtoast 8mo agoNo, I think both of the following statements can be true at the same time: 1. The audited financial statement meets all requirements and is accurate according to the relevant definitions, stating that the effective federal tax rate is 30%. 2. They pay an effective federal tax rate of 3%.
- loeg 8mo agoI don't think those statements can be true at the same time, without significant qualifications on (2) in a way that make it meaningless. Certainly not the reasonable straightforward reading of the phrase.
- randomtoast 8mo agoMaybe you are right, but maybe the significant qualifications are on (1) in a way that make it meaningless. There is a reason why large companies have entire departments dedicated to identifying and utilizing every available national and international tax loophole, all while working to maintain a positive public image.
- youknownothing 8mo agoAs someone who ran his own business for over eight years paying close to 30% tax (and is soon going to do it again), I have very mixed feelings about companies using tricks to reduce their tax burden. I mean, I like it when I do it, and I feel justified because there isn't that much that I can claim tax relief from, but seeing a big company paying such low tax rate feels wrong (even though it may be completely legal). Having said that, there is something to be said of all the tax that is indirectly being generated by Meta: they pay high salaries, and the people receiving those high salaries will pay a significant amount of income tax. Same for all the dividends that they pay out. Maybe just being a big money-mover is their excuse?
- tossandthrow 8mo agoIt 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.
- ralph84 8mo agoProgressive taxation on income is specifically designed to prevent upward mobility from working.
- tossandthrow 8mo agoTaxes 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.
- Refreeze5224 8mo agoThis is totally true, if you ignore the entire history of taxation in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries.
- 8mo ago
- loeg 8mo ago[flagged]
- HardCodedBias 8mo agoIIUC Meta is spending more on capital (due to AI buildout) than they are receiving in profits. Given Depreciation this is expected. And ... the intent of the law, to prompt capital investment. What's the scandal, exactly?
- HardCodedBias 8mo agoWait it gets worse for the "article" ITEP gets the number by dividing Meta’s current federal tax expense ($2.82B) by its domestic pretax income ($79.64B), which is about 3.5–3.6%. But Meta’s total 2025 GAAP effective tax rate was actually 29.6%, because it also booked a huge $15.93B charge tied to the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax and valuation allowances.
- loeg 8mo agoBoth numbers are wrong. Meta's actual income before tax was about $83 billion and its actual tax cost was $25 billion. This is an effective tax rate of ~30%. https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/Meta-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2025-Results/default.aspx https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-deta...
- dfilppi 8mo ago[dead]
- ansley 8mo agoa shamefully low amount.
- LightBug1 8mo agoI'm actually surprised it's that high? By the angle at which, say, Zuckerberg and Bezos bent over for Trump ... I thought they'd be well into negative taxes by now.
- overrun11 8mo agoTo the extent that this is even true it appears to be caused by three things: stock option compensation accounting, R&D deductions and bonus depreciation. Stock option compensation rules have been a boon because Meta stock has risen 6x in three years. It's unlikely to do that again. My understanding is that this is symmetrical so if the stock trends down we will see an inflated effective tax rate for Meta. Recent R&D rule changes allowing software engineering salaries for R&D to be written off seem reasonable and were quite popular on Hacker News. Previously these expenses were amortized over five years so this just pulls it forward. Subsequents years will see depressed expenses. Bonus depreciation is once again just pulling forward legitimate expenses earlier than before. At worst they are just delaying giving the government its taxes and the corporations gain a few points of interest in between. All of the tax rules used here are open to debate but none seem obviously wrong or nefarious. This is why people like Reich choose to keep things vague. Corporations brazenly stealing from your pocket is much more interesting than the mundane reality.
- xnx 8mo agoThere are good arguments for making he corporate tax rate 0%.
- tsoukase 8mo agoTaxation of the huge companies is obviously different than that of others. An army of accountants and lawyers work to find law loopholes to inflate the expenses. And then bribery can come to play. Which public servant can resist millions of dollars? They have to pay attention nobody finds out though.