Your focus on profit is misguided. It's neither measuring economic activity nor is a good base for taxation.
If someone makes a painting in 5 minutes and another guy pays 10M USD for it very little happened. 10M changed hands and the other guy has a painting on his wall. Yet somehow income tax proponents thinks it's fair to now take 50% from that transaction just because money changed hands. It's just not a good way to organize your tax system.
If someone makes a painting in 5 minutes and another guy pays 10M USD for it very little happened. 10M changed hands and the other guy has a painting on his wall. Yet somehow income tax proponents thinks it's fair to now take 50% from that transaction just because money changed hands. It's just not a good way to organize your tax system.