Yep. I like Teslas a lot, but there are some really great EVs coming to market. One of the smartest things Tesla did was create the supercharger network. That will continue to keep them ahead for a while. Plus, they're starting to open them up for use by other EVs. It's another income stream.
it's great if you bought your house in the 70s. not so much if you want to buy it today though i have friends who will retire at 55 and the husband is a vice principal, so we are looking at six figures just for his pension. they own a moderately nice house.
"Actual taxes paid" against "taxable income" are the metric I follow. The "rate", the "marginal" tiers, etc. are the smoke and mirrors. I pay my tax guy to navigate those.
NOTE: I know nothing about economics and claim it is all hoodoo voodoo, even on the oddly beloved "gold standard." Who pays the most taxes in this country? Individuals or companies? if it is the later (which is my guess), then the working people pay those taxes, too, because the company just bakes that into their prices. It all gets passed to the consumer, which is 90% placed on the non-wealthy of this country. So, in a cannibalistic, inbred sort of way, they do pay "more taxes". IMHO. I am willing to be educated.
how could someone less than 70 years old have bought their house in the 70's. This goes right back to what I was saying about who is proportionally paying more. someone with a house has increased the value of that wealth 10 fold (more?) without being subject to annual "income" tax on it. And I am not saying that is wrong. I am just saying that it is. So I do think the overall proportional burden is highest on the youngest and with the least amount of assets. I realize he said something different than how I am phrasing it. I do believe that is his and others' point when they talk about tax burdens. What it certainly is not is a direct quantification, like in dollars. I believe I typically pay a higher portion of whatever I gained in wealth in a year than Elon Musk. But obviously his gains are 10,000 times what mine are or more and he would tend to pay several years worth in one year. So him paying 11 billion dollars as a person worth over a hundred billion dollars that hasn't paid much of anything in years and years is not eye watering to me, since I pay more than that as a %. Although my house might be making it closer because the real estate market here is out of control crazy and my house may have gained more value last year than I earned working full time.
I know what you are saying. As I understand it "marginal" tax is the tax amount before any tax "credits" are subtracted. The highest tax rate (bracket) where you fall is the "marginal" tax rate (and you only pay that rate on income that falls in that tier). And perhaps the terms have been redefined over the years. My tax guy knows what 2 numbers I care about no matter what they are called.
The way to look at it though is that how often do you drive through a whole tank of gas (or whole charge) in a single day or outing? Most people never do, some may do it on road trips a few times a year. My friend has driven from Knoxville to DC in his Tesla a few times. It could theoretically make the trip on one charge but doing so would be as impractical as me filling up my tank and refusing to stop for 8 hours until I reached Knoxville. Instead, he charges it while he eats lunch at some mapped out place in southern Virginia. My point being is that the range really matters in the sense of a round trip in a day. So a Ford Lightning and most vehicles do have a slightly smaller range of a little above 300 miles and a Tesla has up to 400 miles depending on the model... but unless you insist on driving for 6 or 7 hours without any break that is not a difference you will experience in many circumstances. most days, you probably drive less than 100 miles and have it at home at night. I think the optimum setup for a 2 car family is one electric and one conventional. What is a game changer about the trucks is it actually makes more sense for the pickup truck to be the electrical one because a conventional truck gets worse mileage, fits less people, and tends not to be the vehicle driven on long road trips. So long as it has the power to tow, which they are said to.
I wouldn’t drive a Tesla if it was given to me. There’s still too many issues with them that need to be ironed before I’d be interested.
We're on our second and it still has a ways to go. We use it occasionally and you have to stay engaged.
Yeah, it isn't KITT, not yet. But it seems that the autopilot doesn't get into that many wrecks compared to a driver lead car. But that is based on a very quick search, a VERY quick search.
That, plus they’re barely slapped together with low quality parts. Gaps and lines don’t match up and they rattle like crazy. Maintenance is expensive and hard to find (though has gotten better on the latter.) They don’t perform as well in cold weather and the technology is all over the place. Maybe they will be better by the time I’m ready for another car (an EV), but if I was in the market right now, I don’t think I’d even waste my time test driving one.
If I'll drink at least 1 shitty beer if it is given, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I'd probably drive a Tesla if it is given to me. I'm a whore and willing to admit it. I probably won't buy one, though.
