Tax loss harvesting pushes taxes down the road by lowering your cost basis. You pay less taxes now due to the loss offsetting gains and up to $3,000 of income. However your lower basis will result in more capital gains taxes layer when you sell the shares you buy while the market is down. This can be mitigated in two ways. The first is if you have a low income in the future and are in the 0% capital gains tax bracket. Then you can sell the low basis shares without having to pay taxes on them. The second is donating them if your are charitably inclined. That allows you to deduct the fair market value of the low basis shares (if you itemize) and get rid of them without paying the capital gains tax.