If I have expenses that cost me $150K this year but I only make $100K I often have to pay taxes. Some expenses are deductible in certain cases, but even then it isn't equivalent.
All I'm saying is that both should be treated equally, which ever option that ends up being.
But they aren’t equivalent, that’s why they aren’t treated the same.
You are right in that they aren't equal. The things I need to survive I'm taxed on the money I make to spend on them and then I'm taxed when I spend on it. The things a business needs to make more money, it isn't taxed on at all. If anything, the system is the opposite of what it should be. This is a way that the tax code insanely favors the wealthy, and it is so drilled into our subconscious that many see it idiotic to even question the way things currently work.
Maybe. What portion of the expenses went to executive salaries in exchange for this stellar outcome?
Does it matter? Those salaries are taxed. Indeed, all expenses are taxed because every dollar of expense represents a taxable gain at some point in the supply chain.