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Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

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Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#12

This reminds me of the Subaru BRAT in the early '80s. There was a 25% tarrif on imported pickups. So Subaru added two plastic jump seats in the back of the BRAT, even making them face backwards. No seat belts as I recall just handles. They weren't even really intended to be used. They were just cheap plastic. But they served the purpose of making the vehicle a four-seater car instead of a pickup, with only a 2.5% tar…

There's also the Ford vs Chicken Tax; basically U.S. import tariff for passenger van is 2.5% and cargo van is 25%, so Ford, which manufactured their Transit van in Turkey, installed seats in factory and stripped the seats once they arrived in the U.S. Now looks like they are in trouble for this scheme. https://jalopnik.com/ford-faces-potential-1-3-billion-fine-f... (And why it's called Chicken Tax is another fascinat…

Yeah I remember reading that the Ford employees on the US side got the removal time down to 12 minutes a van.

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#13
Taxes are one of the most powerful incentives in the world.

For instance, dumping positions at loss before new years eve might help you with your tax bill since you have losses.

And of course, setting up a company in a country where you did buy a lot of spectrum and you have huge losses, effectively creating a tax credit ( https://www.reuters.com/article/telefonica-germany/update-2-... )

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#14

This reminds me of the Subaru BRAT in the early '80s. There was a 25% tarrif on imported pickups. So Subaru added two plastic jump seats in the back of the BRAT, even making them face backwards. No seat belts as I recall just handles. They weren't even really intended to be used. They were just cheap plastic. But they served the purpose of making the vehicle a four-seater car instead of a pickup, with only a 2.5% tar…

A seafood company in Canada has a 100 foot section of train track, where they load trucks on and right back off, in an attempt to get around the Jones Act requirement that goods shipped between 2 points in the US must use US flagged vessels

https://www.adn.com/business-economy/2021/09/15/feds-accuse-...

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#15
post #6

This reminds me of the Subaru BRAT in the early '80s. There was a 25% tarrif on imported pickups. So Subaru added two plastic jump seats in the back of the BRAT, even making them face backwards. No seat belts as I recall just handles. They weren't even really intended to be used. They were just cheap plastic. But they served the purpose of making the vehicle a four-seater car instead of a pickup, with only a 2.5% tar…

That's fascinating. I remember hearing there about a giant book on import taxes on apparel with various definitions. For instance, "sandals" may be taxed X but "open toed shoes" may be taxed Y. Apparently these rates drive fashion trends to an incredible degree where even small modifications to a product could totally change the economics.

Said giant book: https://hts.usitc.gov/current

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#16

This reminds me of the Subaru BRAT in the early '80s. There was a 25% tarrif on imported pickups. So Subaru added two plastic jump seats in the back of the BRAT, even making them face backwards. No seat belts as I recall just handles. They weren't even really intended to be used. They were just cheap plastic. But they served the purpose of making the vehicle a four-seater car instead of a pickup, with only a 2.5% tar…

This kind of thing is apparently pretty common. The two that I know of are shoes -> slippers by adding fabric to the bottom and European manufactured vans being imported to the US as passenger vehicles and then converted to cargo after arrival.

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#17

This reminds me of the Subaru BRAT in the early '80s. There was a 25% tarrif on imported pickups. So Subaru added two plastic jump seats in the back of the BRAT, even making them face backwards. No seat belts as I recall just handles. They weren't even really intended to be used. They were just cheap plastic. But they served the purpose of making the vehicle a four-seater car instead of a pickup, with only a 2.5% tar…

There's also the Ford vs Chicken Tax; basically U.S. import tariff for passenger van is 2.5% and cargo van is 25%, so Ford, which manufactured their Transit van in Turkey, installed seats in factory and stripped the seats once they arrived in the U.S. Now looks like they are in trouble for this scheme. https://jalopnik.com/ford-faces-potential-1-3-billion-fine-f... (And why it's called Chicken Tax is another fascinat…

Planet Money did[0] a story about the Chicken Tax.

[0] https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/01/25/511663527/epis...

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#18
post #13

Taxes are one of the most powerful incentives in the world. For instance, dumping positions at loss before new years eve might help you with your tax bill since you have losses. And of course, setting up a company in a country where you did buy a lot of spectrum and you have huge losses, effectively creating a tax credit ( https://www.reuters.com/article/telefonica-germany/update-2-... )

Important to note that you can’t buy back the same stock/instrument and claim capital loss in most countries

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#20

This reminds me of the Subaru BRAT in the early '80s. There was a 25% tarrif on imported pickups. So Subaru added two plastic jump seats in the back of the BRAT, even making them face backwards. No seat belts as I recall just handles. They weren't even really intended to be used. They were just cheap plastic. But they served the purpose of making the vehicle a four-seater car instead of a pickup, with only a 2.5% tar…

Are Jaffa cakes classed as biscuits or cakes? https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38985820
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