Demand Progress

Tesla will pay $0 in federal taxes this year despite recording a record profit of $5.5 billion in 2021 thanks to existing corporate tax loopholes and the company’s “creative” accounting.¹ That’s unacceptable. Click here if you agree. 

Tesla is headquartered in the United States and its 2021 profits secured CEO Elon Musk’s title as the world’s richest man. Yet the corporation will avoid all US corporate taxes because its enormous profits were recorded outside the US, while inside the US, the company reported a loss.² 

For at least three years running, Tesla has avoided contributing to funding the social services and infrastructure that the US desperately needs. Congress must act now to make sure Tesla and other big corporations pay their fair share!  

Sign the petition: Congress must end tax loopholes for corporations and raise the overall corporate tax rate! 

Multinational corporations like Tesla regularly use offshore tax havens to report all their profits abroad, where they’re subject to drastically lower tax rates. 130 countries including the US entered into an agreement last year intended to crack down on tax evasion by setting a standard corporate tax rate of 15%.³

But, as Tesla’s 2021 tax filings indicate, the new agreement won’t have much effect because key tax havens still haven’t joined. 

Tesla’s SEC filings show that US sales accounted for nearly half of Tesla’s total revenue in 2021, but the company is still declaring a loss in the US for the year. That means Tesla will avoid US corporate taxes altogether.⁴ Congress must pass legislation applying a 15% corporate tax rate to all profits — regardless of whether they’re reported domestically or abroad.  

Sign the petition: Close the tax loopholes for the rich and powerful!

Sources:

1. CNN, “Elon Musk’s US tax bill: $11 billion.Tesla’s: 0,” February 10, 2022.  
2. Ibid.
3. NPR, “Over 130 countries agree to set a minimum tax rate for companies,” October 8, 2021. 
4. Op cit.