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> Startups like OpenAI don't pay income taxes because they don't have income.

Where is my $20/month for GPT-4 going then?




Taxes are payed on net income not on individual transactions (barring sales tax).

If I make $100 in a year and spend $1000 that year, my income is ($900). How can I spend $1000? Generally through loans and bonds. How do I secure said loans? Generally simply by showing how much VC and income comes in with a business plan that banks accept.

But that's the secret to the money flow. That's also partially why the collapse of SVB was such a blow to the tech industry. A LOT of loans were issued by them.


Ok got it got it, I was thinking revenue == income, and not income == profit. My bad, financially illiterate I guess.


Revenue. Your $20/month is going on the revenue line of accounting. The income line on the accounting can be negative despite your generous $20 donation.


To pay their expenses and salaries.


To the for-profit - which pays taxes on net income.


probably 2x that in GPU costs




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