https://truthout.org/articles/tesla-paid-zero-federal-income-tax-in-2024-despite-2-3-billion-in-income/ Skip to content Skip to footer Truthout * Latest * About * Donate Trending: * Immigration * Trump Administration * Palestine * Elon Musk * Abortion Truthout * Latest * About * Donate Menu * Latest * About Us * Subscribe * Donate Search [ ] Search Filter Search (*) Search All ( ) Articles ( ) Audio Posts ( ) Video Posts ( ) Authors Social Media * Facebook * Bluesky * Flipboard * Instagram * Twitter * RSS Sections * Culture & Media * Economy & Labor * Education & Youth * Environment & Health * Human Rights * Immigration * LGBTQ Rights * Politics & Elections * Prisons & Policing * Racial Justice * Reproductive Rights * War & Peace * Series & Podcasts Trending * Immigration * Trump Administration * Palestine * Elon Musk * Abortion Latest Israel UN Warns 12,000 in Gaza Need Urgent Medical Evacuation as Rafah Crossing Reopens Trump Administration Top Official Exits Treasury Amid Clash With Musk's Allies Over Federal Payments Israel Israel Has Killed 53 in West Bank, Including 8 Children, in January Alone Donald Trump Kash Patel Is "One of Donald Trump's Most Disturbing" Picks, Journalist Warns More * About * Donate * Manage Your Donation * More Ways to Give * Subscribe * Submission Guidelines * Financial Information * Privacy Policy * Memorial Essay Prize * Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism * Job Openings * Contact Us (c) 2025 Truthout News | Economy & Labor Tesla Paid Zero Federal Income Tax in 2024, Despite $2.3 Billion in Income This brings Tesla's average tax rate over the past three years to 0.4 percent. By Sharon Zhang , Truthout Published January 30, 2025 The Tesla Inc. logo is pictured on a sign in Zrich, Switzerland, on November 13, 2023.The Tesla Inc. logo is pictured on a sign in Zrich, Switzerland, on November 13, 2023. Joan Cros / NurPhoto via Getty Images Elon Musk's Tesla paid a total of $0 in federal income taxes in 2024, new tax reports show, despite the company having raked in billions of dollars in income and being the most valuable car company in the world. Citing Tesla's year-end financial report released this week, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) reports that Tesla paid a 0 percent federal income tax rate last year, even as the company reported $2.3 billion in income. In 2023, Tesla paid $48 million in taxes on $3.1 billion in income -- a 1.5 percent rate. And, in 2022, when it reported $5.5 billion in income, Tesla also paid a 0 percent tax rate. This brings Tesla's average tax rate over the past three years to 0.4 percent, or 50 times less than the statutory corporate tax rate of 21 percent. This is despite the fact that Tesla is valued at over $1.2 trillion and is owned by the richest man in the world, with a net worth of over $400 billion and who was awarded a $101 billion pay package by Tesla shareholders last year -- though this package has been rejected by a judge. Related Story Elon Musk, CEO of X, Tesla and SpaceX arrives for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. News | Politics & Elections Report: Average Net Worth of Trump's Top 10 Economic Advisers Tops $500 Million Trump's economic team is a "recipe for disaster," according to Americans for Tax Fairness Executive Director David Kass. By Chris Walker , Truthout January 23, 2025 Truthout Due to the nature of the U.S. tax system, which heavily favors corporations and the wealthy and enables sophisticated tax dodging methods, Musk is also one of the many ultrarich Americans who pay a far lower tax rate than the average American. Advocates for fairer taxation have said that, due to the way that tax law is written and enforced, it is essentially optional for Musk and other billionaires to follow tax guidelines, allowing them to hoard more and more wealth while the working class struggles to get by. According to ITEP, Tesla was able to avoid paying $500 million in taxes by using accelerated depreciation, a tax avoidance method and incentive for businesses which allows companies to write off the costs of an asset faster than it would normally actually lose value. The company dodged another $300 million in its tax bill by claiming "unspecified 'U.S. tax credits,'" ITEP said. Companies' ability to use accelerated depreciation as a tax avoidance method was expanded by Donald Trump and Republicans' Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, which slashed the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent and has supercharged the growth of the wealth gap in the U.S., creating an explosion of wealth for the richest Americans. Trump and the GOP have pledged to be extremely friendly to corporations in Trump's second term in office. The president campaigned on tax cuts across the board -- but research has found that his tax plans would actually raise taxes for the working class while cutting taxes for the top 5 percent richest Americans. Meanwhile, Republicans are reportedly circulating options to expand the already massive tax benefits given to corporations and the wealthy in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act -- options that include slashing benefits for working class Americans in order to cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent. This could give massive corporations like Tesla yet more tax cuts. ITEP points out that there are also bipartisan proposals to give corporations more tax dodging tools, like a compromise bill proposed in the Senate last year that would, among other things, retroactively give companies the ability to receive a tax break on supposed research -- though the bill gives an extremely wide definition of what a company could qualify as research. We're not backing down in the face of Trump's threats. As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we're not shouting into a faceless void - we're reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate. Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit. As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations - either through need or greed - rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump's wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models. At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won't run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths - a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government. Over 80 percent of Truthout's funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone. You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support. Share * Share via Facebook * Share via Bluesky * Share via Flipboard * Share via Mail * Share via Print * More + Share via Threads + Share via Reddit + Share via Pocket + Share via Linkedin + Share via Twitter This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license. We need your help to become less dependent on traffic from Facebook and X. Follow us on Bluesky today! [IMG_4178-1-400x300] Sharon Zhang Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and more. She has a master's degree in environmental studies. She can be found on Twitter and Bluesky. 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