Tell HN: I used the same computer since 2007 (with minor upgrades)

It applies to Brazilian residents and on paper even to visitors: any time foreign goods pass the border. The fact that is inconsistently applied does not mean the law does not exist, so be prepared if they happen to single you out and enforce it.

It is definitely about both mail and your luggage. The link in my previous reply specifically mentions luggage, including a whole FAQ. Tax free limit when entering by air is 500 USD.

May I ask where are you from? I am a bit puzzled by your surprise because I do not know a single country that does not have similar laws. The whole EU has analogous rules, for example (and I live in the EU). Those absolutely apply to your luggage, and also mail. The difference is in implementation details such as what qualifies as personal use, what is the tax-free allowance, and what are the fees. But the concept itself is not something odd that only Brazil does.

> Just like cryptocurrency mining, it certainly drives shortages and high prices.

The prices for state of the art graphics cards which are only required for mining or gaming are high, but these products actually -subsidize- or lower prices of more generally useful, simpler tech. Please look into the price history of RAM, simple graphics cards (now builtin to many CPUs, which is very economical!) or any other basic computing components.

> Most people who want a car/truck/tractor want a reliable mechanical device

Please find me any source or other evidence that tractors or cars have gotten any less reliable. All studies done indicate the exact opposite of what you are saying. This sounds like a made-up narrative that you happen to want to be true. See: https://www.motorbiscuit.com/cars-reliability-higher-jd-powe...

And I think you are losing track of the original claims you were making about taxes here. For example:

Do the countries in question actually only tax new products, or ALL tech products?

Tech may be a polluter, but again, your claim was that this is what drives the tax policy. Tell me, do these countries tax oil by the same or a greater amount? It's obviously true that environmental concerns _do not_ drive these tax policies.

Are you going to provide an example of tech hardware being used to "control" people? Would love to see some evidence of this outrageous claim.

And I'm really begging you, when you are about to advocate for very high taxes in this area, to consider the effect it has on small businesses.

Initially it takes me to a page that asks, "Do you really want to use HTML Gmail?" I need to click "I'd like to use HTML Gmail" button to proceed to HTML Gmail.

Also Brazilian, I remember each and every time I was able to upgrade my computer. So much bliss. Living in the US now things are so much easier that you lose appreciation for what you're talking about. Keep the hustle going but allow yourself to improve your setup the second you can. The computer is the sword of the modern worker. If you were a samurai would you be swinging around some decade-old weapon?

> Please find me any source or other evidence that tractors or cars have gotten any less reliable

My understanding from friends who work in that industry is that the mechanical parts have gotten more reliable, but cars have gotten less reliable overall due to relying on many micro-controllers and their firmware. I don't find source right now for statistics but i remember reading electronics were ~30% of the price of a new car, and represented the reason for >50% of recalls in the past years in the USA. (I will update with a link when i find the source again)

As for tractors, it's a well-known problem that's been widely discussed on HN regarding John Deere in particular. There's a growing right to repair movement due to the fact manufacturers intentionally make the tractors harder to repair with electronics: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/why-american-farm...

> Do the countries in question actually only tax new products, or ALL tech products?

Fair question, it would require to take a look at a specific example. In general, i assume taxes mostly apply to new products as the second hand market tends to be undeclared hand-to-hand transactions. For example in France the copyright mafia has imposed private copy "taxes" (technically not a tax, we call it a "redevance" in french) on every second-hand device, but only second-hand shops (eg. backmarket) apply it and >90% of second-hand transactions on markets and platforms like leboncoin are totally unaffected.

> Tell me, do these countries tax oil by the same or a greater amount? It's obviously true that environmental concerns _do not_ drive these tax policies.

I'm not saying that's the reason these taxes exist; i'm saying that's a compelling reason to consider such taxes. As you may know, producing electronics requires tons of coal/oil along the whole industrial process. Also, oil is highly taxed in many countries (including in France where spiking taxes have birthed the gilets jaunes insurrection).

> Are you going to provide an example of tech hardware being used to "control" people?

The NSA/Palantir infrastructure (among others) come to mind. The whole CCTV, facial recognition, and marketing/analytics industry come to mind. Also, bossware solutions whether on your own laptop or dictating work like in Amazon centers. When a facial recognition algorithm gets you to jail, or a bossware algorithm prevents you from peeing on the job because you have to hold the cadence, i'd call that social control without a doubt.

> when you are about to advocate for very high taxes

I'm not advocating for or against taxes. Hell, i'm against money and private property to begin with. I'm simply pointing out that most problems we face today can be solved with less tech not more (lowtech vs bloat), and that tech intended to solve human problems (eg. cars) often end up becoming a radical monopoly doing the exact opposite (see for example Ivan Illich's calculations on cars). I can't help but cringe every time i see a thread about a startup that wants to build automated farms... i really don't to produce more electronics waste just for food, and i certainly don't want electronics garbage seeping into our soils. That's a typical example of an industry trying to invent a problem that's been solved for decades with modern, science-based permaculture techniques.