Yes, BUT the system is incentivized towards spending extra money on growth and cool toys, to avoid taxes. Escalade, G-Wagon, GLS450, Range Rovers all has gross weight over 6,500- making them a write off, which is many businessmen have them (I have 2 years left on mine). There are charity balls, concerts, and dinners that you can spend a fortune on. Tech can get written off quickly. Office decor counts too- 12 foot granite sculpture for the lobby, to replace the old 8’ one. (Cooler than paying taxes on it). Accelerated/itemized depreciation go from writing of the entire cost of building over to 27.5 years, to getting the bulk of the building back in the first 5 years- then you sell it and 1031 it into the next.
Want to take tax free profit from your company by selling off a piece- roll it into an asset protection trust before the sale, and after the sale roll it through an IRS provision to place the funds in an interest bearing insurance plan that you can then borrow against it tax free. Company lost a profit center- but you have now have access to all the money.
Ultimately, it is geared towards expansion, which is great for the economy and jobs- but it does make it tricky to separate out the real numbers- especially on the big companies. When a company has a vary profitable year- often that is a reflection on them not having enough time to spend enough profit, OR having greater sales than projected.
I can geek out all day (which is why I am offering business consulting as part of my latest company), but since this is an audio forum I will stop. PM me if you have any questions.