what he said is correct

and what you and miat's understanding are correct too. there's nothing conflict here.

you and miat are talking about how one can legally avoid tax so that you can pay less tax even though you have income. But your yearly after tax income will not be a lot because your expenses. So, in a way you are probably making your business grow and make more money in the future but currently you are not making as much as fixed income folks. i.e., the amount of money you can spend freely right NOW is less.

what zengjp is saying is absolutely right too. The government is looking for all possible opportunities increasing all sorts of taxes including property tax, income tax and capital gain tax. I see this trend coming myself. Even though sometimes the assessing value of properties are less, unfortunately their tax rates are higher.