There’s so much bad math in here.
A deduction is not equal to an incurred cost. And that is used as a method to reduce taxable income when the driving is used as part of business expenses.
And then the idea of opportunity cost being comingled with yearly salary. If that’s the case then I miss out on $50k a year as well by sleeping.
And then, somehow accounting for scratch offs and losing gambling? Why not account for gambling on the football games when you play at home.
I think I’m back to just the tournament talks again.
Cheers man.
Didn't think it would start an argument as I was largely agreeing with you, simply expanding on the costs of going to play pool elsewhere.
Anyways none of it was bad math, although perhaps some of it was poor reasoning. But let's examine.
A deduction is in fact, often, an incurred cost. If you have an expense of
x that is tax-deductible, you deduct
x. The IRS allows a 65.5c/mile deduction because it estimates the average actual cost of running a vehicle is 65.5c. The IRS is not in business to be generous or reduce people's tax liabilities, so I trust their estimate. Therefore, for many people that is a good long-term estimate of their cost per mile of using their vehicle.
Opportunity cost is quite valid. Time savings is a very important aspect of people's lives. What value do you place on your time? I mean, I guess here we both are arguing on the internet, so maybe it's overstated for either of us, but time is money for many people. Saving 2100 hours over a lifetime to do other things (even if it is catching up on sleep) is quite valuable, no matter how you decide to quantify it.
Finally, when people go to bars and are around other people and activities they tend to spend more money. I don't think that's arguable. You get a meal, or you get a couple drinks, whatever. All those other items (gambling, jukeboxes, scratch-offs) were other common items people spend money on in bars because they are there and available, although perhaps any of them do not apply to you. But I can pretty much guarantee people who regularly hang out in such environments have a higher spend on food/drinks/music/etc, on average, than people who are at home.
So I do not think there is any poor reasoning, just perhaps imprecise calculations with broad ranges of possible answers depending on the individual involved. But if you want to argue that driving a car doesn't cost money, or that time has no value, or that people do not spend money in bars, then be my guest.
