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The time bomb in the tax code that's fueling mass tech layoffs

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Re: The time bomb in the tax code that's fueling mass tech layoffs

#431

Post by paulryanrogers »

rayiner wrote: post #402
dragonwriter wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a progressive, it seems like the Democrats always have Senate spoilers... With Republicans usually being dominant in a number of states, if Democrats have a Senate majority, it is usually both narrow and dependent on a very small number of Democratic and/or Dem-leading moderate independent Senators from Republican-majority states who vote with the party on leadership, but are soft (or firmly opposed to the progr…

> If the US were approximately an equal democracy, this might be less of an issue Equal to what?

Equal in voting rights. Gerrymandering has been perfected by Republicans. Through that they manage to dilute votes of the opposition. Other measures discourage voters likely to vote against them, like people who cannot easily take time off to vote in person or who have changed their name. Blocking rank choice and maintaining first past the post also disenfranchise third parties, and reinforces the power of incumbents.

Trump himself admitted it's better for Republicans when fewer people vote.

Re: The time bomb in the tax code that's fueling mass tech layoffs

#433

Post by TechDebtDevin »

Hammershaft wrote: post #277
yieldcrv wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This bill is goated for upper middle class and tech and defense sector And I’m tired of pretending like we aren’t going to be beneficiaries Every Congress increases the debt, we can acknowledge that the cuts they picked are going to wreck the lower class especially with the medicaid, we can acknowledge that it won’t meet its goals of cuts but are you guys just scared to acknowledge its going to super charge things th…

I agree but I think the huge cuts across public research & development basically hurt everybody in the long term.

And China will pick up the slack.

Re: The time bomb in the tax code that's fueling mass tech layoffs

#434

Post by sarchertech »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #355
sarchertech wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be much better to tax the benefits of the unrealized gain that a person realizes. It’s much easier to do because there is no disputing the assessment since the person implicitly agrees to the valuation. And it allows people to forgo realizing any benefit from the unrealized value at all to avoid taxation. Say take x% of the top of the money lent to someone who uses their unrealized gain to secure a loan. Mak…

"uses their unrealized gain to secure a loan" sounds impossible to define with enough precision that you could base taxes off of it.

Have you taken out a secured loan in the last year over x amount?

Take the value of the asset assessed by the bank and the price paid for the asset to find the total value that is unrealized gain.

Divide that by the total value to get percent of collateral that is unrealized gain. Multiply that by the loan value. Then multiply that by the tax percentage.

All you need is for banks to report secured loans to the IRS and it’s easy.

Re: The time bomb in the tax code that's fueling mass tech layoffs

#435

Post by hollerith »

youngtaff wrote: post #166
demosthanos wrote: post #96

There are some misunderstandings in the comments that seem to stem from not having read the section, so I thought it was worth referencing the actual text [0]. It's quite short and easy to read. The most important bits: * Subsection (a) requires amortizing "Specified research or experimental expenditures" over 5 years (paragraph (2)) instead of deducting them (paragraph (1)) * Paragraph (c)(3) is a Special Rule that…

I worked for a UK company that amortised it’s development costs… it led to the false belief that the company was profitable when it really wasn’t

OK, but you've changed the topic from tax accounting to financial accounting/reporting.

In the US, it remains the case that programmers salaries must be treated as an expense (i.e., cannot be amortized) when calculating the company's income statement, balance sheet, etc. Not following that rule will get the accounting firm signing off on those financial reports in trouble (with the SEC, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and maybe even the Justice Department if the purpose of the violation was to defraud investors).

Re: The time bomb in the tax code that's fueling mass tech layoffs

#436

Post by paulryanrogers »

_heimdall wrote: post #380
kenjackson wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. It’s after re-election. Bad news late in your second term isn’t that big of a deal, unless you care about legacy.

Most presidents care about legacy, at least to me it seems like trump holds that as a higher priority than most.

Trump seems to care what people think today, every day. He doesn't seem like someone who puts a lot of thought into the future.

Re: The time bomb in the tax code that's fueling mass tech layoffs

#437

Post by Huxley1 »

I only recently learned about the Section 174 change, and honestly didn’t expect it to have such a big impact.

I used to work at a small startup, and most of our spending went toward engineers’ salaries. If we had to amortize that over several years back then, I don’t think we would’ve made it.

It’s surprising how a single line in the tax code can quietly make it harder for small teams to hire. Makes me wonder how many other policies are silently shaping things behind the scenes.

Re: The time bomb in the tax code that's fueling mass tech layoffs

#438

Post by mattmillr »

altairprime wrote: post #192
bboygravity wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, make everybody equally poor. That'll solve things.

If you look at happiness and indexes versus taxation rates - yes, making everybody poorer does tend to solve things. Not too soon in the growth curve - but certainly not never .

Those two scenarios are only comparable if you isolate happiness and taxation and completely ignore things like social services and inequality.

I think you're referring to Nordic countries which consistently rank as the happiest countries and also have relatively high tax rates (4 of 5 Nordic countries rank in the top 11 tax rates globally. Norway has oil.) The high taxes that "make everybody poorer" also fund extensive social services that contribute to happiness.

However, this conversation is about making (a class of) workers poorer by using tax policy that puts downward pressure on their salaries. Tax revenues will stay the same, so social services will not be increased. Economic inequality increases because the workers became poorer, the C-Suite and Board Members don't.

Re: The time bomb in the tax code that's fueling mass tech layoffs

#440

Post by ims »

holtkam2 wrote: post #130

Honest question, is there a community / grassroots effort I can participate in so that this this section 174 change can be reverted to its pre-2022 state? I'm wondering, if such a movement doesn't doesn't exist already, do I need to start it myself?

'mjwhansen founded the Small Software Business Alliance specifically to work on this issue: https://ssballiance.org/
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