Mach-E Steals Major Tesla EV Share in February

[shutterbug]

The Trabant is a collector's item now, right?

Don't know about that. People collect all kinds of crap. And few things are crappier than soviet block cars.

Sponsored

 

[All Hat No Cattle]

LOL, and here is another brilliant idea going bad, from the self-named "Technoking" Musk.

I wonder if he is going to hype the benefits of using Bitcoin to buy a Tesla as much now, since the benefits have proven to be more vaporware.

From today's Wall Street Journal. Enjoy.

March 26, 2021 10:07 am ET

As much as it tries to be the company of the future, Tesla TSLA -3.39% shares a present-day problem with the rest of us—it has to deal with the Internal Revenue Service.


Tax rules were a boon when it was almost the only electric-vehicle game in town. Its well-to-do customers got a $7,500 federal rebate and many states added to that. Now it has sold so many cars that customers no longer qualify for the federal subsidy. That matters more now that it is competing in the increasingly crowded mass-market category.


Buyers will face an even bigger hit if they choose to pay with bitcoin since the IRS will treat this as a sale of the recently appreciated asset. Say a buyer from California pays for its entry-level Model 3 sedan with $33,690 in bitcoin purchased three months ago. At the marginal tax rate of the average Model 3 buyer according to automotive research firm Hedges & Co., she would owe $4,056 at the federal level and $1,572 to California for short-term capital gains. Starting this year, cryptocurrency ownership has to be reported on federal returns under penalty of perjury.


The upshot is that, compared with, say, a rebate-eligible Hyundai Ioniq EV with an almost identical sticker price paid for in legal tender, the Tesla Model 3 buyer using appreciated bitcoin would pay 53% more after taxes.

Write to Spencer Jakab at [email protected]

Appeared in the March 27, 2021, print edition as 'OVERHEARD.'

 

[malba2366]

LOL, and here is another brilliant idea going bad, from the self-named "Technoking" Musk.

I wonder if he is going to hype the benefits of using Bitcoin to buy a Tesla as much now, since the benefits have proven to be more vaporware.

From today's Wall Street Journal. Enjoy.

The benefit is is someone bought bitcoin very early on when the purchases weren't reported to the IRS. They could use the BTC to buy a Tesla and lie about their basis in the BTC when they report to the IRS. Yes it is tax fraud, but it could be an immense benefit in that circumstance.

The real reason for all this BTC stuff is a way to distract attention from the fact that Tesla has some massive competition from VW which is flooding the market with EVs at all price levels in the next few years. Also, the CCP is starting to scrutinize Tesla, and it is almost a foregone conclusion that Nio and Xpeng are the chosen winners of the EV race in the PRC. Also there is a strong possibility that the Chinese EV makers will replace the Japanese/Korean automakers the low cost option on a global basis.