I get what your saying about income from property. I'm not a real estate mogul, but, property that I own has expenses related to it that almost eliminates the income. While there is small cash flow from that. The real value in my real estate is the Capital gains on the property after improvements and several years of managed leases. In the end, I pay little in taxes, while I pay operating expenses and interest on financing, but when I sell..... I make most my profit then. That is when I pay the most taxes at capital gains rates.
If he pays zero tax, he is making zero profit. When he sells, he pays the tax(maybe???).