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

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461–470 of 991 posts

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

#461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> Equal in voting rights. Gerrymandering has been perfected by Republicans. Through that they manage to dilute votes of the opposition.

This thread is talking about the Senate. The senate isn't gerrymandered. Both senators are state-wide races.

If you want to view it that way, you can view the senate as "pre-gerrymandered". But the last time that was an option was in 1959, and both of those are just "the entire area the US owned, but wasn't a state yet. To get senate gerrymandering, you have to go back to 1912 and the admission of New Mexico/Arizona.

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

#462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Repealing SB174 has bipartisan support. The house already passed its repeal but it died in Senate because a separate took (that also repealed it) took its place but that separate bill stalled out. 174 is so small it can't go through both chambers on its own so it needs to get attached a larger bill like OBBA. It's unfortunate because it appears both sides want this repealed to allow immediate amortization of domestic…

> 174 is so small it can't go through both chambers on its own so it needs to get attached a larger bill like OBBA. There's a minimum size for laws?

Why would a senator from Kentucky vote for a bill that doesn't benefit his state to a meaningful amount?

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

#463
post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anything it has been the opposite problem, with modern congresses having been more than happy to delegate away their powers. You might have heard the recent tariff news for example.

Presidencies last 4-8 years, congressional careers last decades.

Avg for house is 12.5 and 8.5 in senate

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

#464
post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That isn’t how legislation is passed. If anything, it needs a section about acceptable tar shingle application standards for roofs within 6 nautical miles of any heliport operated in a subarctic area on the west cost. Then it’s looking like a bill.

Just last year, Congress snapped to attention and wrote and quickly passed a bill to ban the eminent national security threat of a video-sharing app. That bill doesn't do anything else. Just a reminder that Congress, even now, can rapidly act on a laser focus when it is sufficiently motivated.

Because almost no voters would be against the bill and it harms almost none of the supporters of representatives

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

#465
post #98

Note that Trump's Big Beautiful Bill as it passed the House of Reps would bring back 100% expensing of R&D expenses including software development costs/salaries.

If the article is to be believed, though, the damage is already done. Companies have already laid off large portions of their R&D staff, and have canceled lots of forward-looking technical work. Re-hiring those people and restarting those projects can take years, and that's if companies feel confident enough that the exemption will stick around, and not get removed again in a few years.

Still, I'll take it

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

#466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a highlight in an otherwise shitty bill. I saw let Trump’s ugly bill die and then a small fix up to the tax code could be this. Should be able to pass.

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…

>Every Congress increases the debt,

And yet only one party campaigns on fiscal responsibility, debt concerns, and reduced spending

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

#467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth noting that FB was quite possibly being secretly funded with taxpayer money by national intelligence interests at inception, which would have substantially reduced or eliminated commercial pressure early on. DARPA was working on Project LifeLog starting in 2003, was to be "an ontology-based (sub)system that captures, stores, and makes accessible the flow of one person's experience in and interactions with…

I often wonder if national intelligence interests are behind or have taken control of major corporate players like Microsoft, Google and Apple. There was an article [0] back in 2015 that brought forth the proposition that google was created by the CIA. It would explain the current enshitification of these companies and the lengths they are going to take away choice. [0]: https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/how-th…

Google Is Not What It Seems

https://wikileaks.org/google-is-not-what-it-seems/

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

#468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have no idea about corruption if you haven't lived it in a BRIC country. The funny thing, is that people not from America say that there IS corruption, but at least it happens in the open. I think OP is saying the same.

>say that there IS corruption, but at least it happens in the open How is that corruption?

Breaking the law is still breaking the law even if you don't hide it. If anything, not getting in trouble for breaking the law noticeably often means that there's also corruption from the ones who should be holding the corrupt accountable.

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

#469

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…

Who sponsored this text in the bill?

Idk but it was under trump. And the meta issue was balancing the budget after all his tax cuts so he needed to find more tax revenues. Which this accomplishes pretty handily

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

#470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes sense when you consider that there is no minimum tax rate on businesses. Given the choice, Amazon would rather spend 100% of its profits on itself than allow any of its profits to be paid out in taxes. Section 174 was implemented without a minimum tax on corporate profits before voluntary deductions such as research. Therefore, it’s exploitable and all companies ought to hire and fire staff to ensure their p…

after 5 years then every year is deducting a whole year's worth of R&D - as long as that investment is not too lumpy from year to year you are back where you started

Which is fine for steady companies, but perpetually drags down any rapidly growing company
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