A tax playbook for business owners and high earners: hold wealth inside a C corporation instead of taking it as personal income, which leaves far more money to reinvest.

• A C corp pays about 21% federal tax, while a top earner in California pays over 50% — leaving the company 30 to 40% more cash to put back to work.
• "Build, borrow, die" is the full version: grow the business, borrow against your shares instead of selling, and heirs get a reset cost basis so the gains go untaxed.
• Buffett and Musk are the templates — small salary for living costs, wealth left compounding inside the company or borrowed against.
• Real estate stacks on top: depreciation wipes out rental income and, with 750 hours a year of real estate work, can offset income from a plumbing shop or medical practice too.
• Writing off a vehicle under Section 179 is a trap if you sell it — the tax break gets clawed back, and a $12.9 million jet sale once triggered a multimillion-dollar bill.

Outlook: These structures only pay off above roughly $300,000 of income, and every piece of them needs a CPA before anyone tries it.