Your refund is not your tax bill. Your tax liability is. For most households earning $250K or more, that number sits between $65,000 and $115,000 every year. Whether you wrote a check in April or got money back does not change it.
Why this works when real estate does not:
Real estate depreciation is passive. It cannot offset W2 wages without 750+ hours of documented work per year. Almost no working professional qualifies.
Equipment rental is an active Schedule C business. The Section 179 deduction flows directly to your 1040 and reduces your taxable income dollar for dollar.
No tenants. No REPS. No property management. You sign the contract, run the business and receive a monthly check.
My husband and I are both pharmacists. W2 earners our entire careers. We maxed every account, paid off our debt, did everything the financial planning world told us to do. And we still watched six figures leave every single year with no good answer for where it went.