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Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

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Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#131

Post by autoexec »

bentcorner wrote: post #83
HeavenFox wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There's also the infamous Toy Biz, Inc. v. United States case where Marvel Comics argued that their X-Men toys where "nonhuman toys" and not dolls to avoid an import tax. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Biz%2C_Inc._v._United_Stat... The irony is that in the X-Men universe, the X-Men fight for a unification of mutants and humans.

Still, technically true though I'd think. Mutants aren't human. The X-Gene makes them "Homo sapiens superior" and distinguishes them from humans who were mutated by other means (radiation, spider bites, etc). Do X-men want to erase the distinction or do they just want peaceful coexistence between the two species?

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#132

Post by Lammy »

ninly wrote: post #90
geocrasher wrote: post #5

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…

Its reputation is eternal: http://achewood.com/index.php?date=12012003

Should have stuck with the 1978 Volvo 244GLE http://achewood.com/?date=05102005

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#133

Post by colejohnson66 »

bjustin wrote: post #130
etskinner wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if they could, in theory, sell you the car for 150% of it's final price (so that they seats are there when sold), then buy back the seats immediately for 50% of its price. The invoice would say something like: Car with passenger seats: $15,000; Passenger seat buyback: $5,000; Total after buyback: $10,000. That way everyone gets what they want, and they've technically sold it with the seats still installed.

And collect tax on $20,000 in sales instead of $10,000? Maybe they would be happy if car companies used this scheme.

Then the government would collect income tax from the owner on that rebate as well, no? Seems like an expensive operation.

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#134

Post by notch656a »

mc32 wrote: post #60
jrockway wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. I hope the government loses their lawsuit here. Customs & Border Protection should have absolutely no jurisdiction over what an item is used for once it enters the country.

It was pretty transparent that they did that to circumvent regulation. Imagine Coca-Cola getting clearance for importing coca leaves for flavoring but then instead sells it to a third party who processes it for something else.

Am I the only one that sees no problem with that? Why the hell should coca-cola be responsible for what someone else does with coca leaves?

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#135

Post by rietta »

Glock ships their Glock 19 from Austria to Smyrna, Georgia, with adjustable target sights to have enough points under US import law and then an armorer changes those sights to their fixed self defense sights to be sold in the US market. Presumably the sights get shipped back to Austria for the next batch.

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#136

Post by [deleted] »

laurent92 wrote: post #79
etskinner wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if they could, in theory, sell you the car for 150% of it's final price (so that they seats are there when sold), then buy back the seats immediately for 50% of its price. The invoice would say something like: Car with passenger seats: $15,000; Passenger seat buyback: $5,000; Total after buyback: $10,000. That way everyone gets what they want, and they've technically sold it with the seats still installed.

Isn’t a lot of securization necessary for two more seats? Adding floor reinforcements, seatbelts, and more importantly, passing the crash tests with two more seats?

[deleted]

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#137

Post by aaaaaaaaaaab »

Spooky23 wrote: post #129
geocrasher wrote: post #5

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…

Ford was doing this a couple of years ago with their small van… the Transit Connect (iirc). They would import from Europe with seats, but remove the seats at the port and ship them right back.

Almost. The back seats were actually shredded.

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#138

Post by w0mbat »

Jon_Lowtek wrote: post #88
vilaca wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> benefits would be spread among consumers throughout Europe The EU has banned poultry meat from the US on psytosanitary grounds for more than two decades.

Which is a lot younger than the chicken tax from the 1960s For some context: it is about washing chicken meat with chlorine dioxide to kill bacteria, especially salmonella, at the slaughterhouse. It may seem ridicoulous that europeans prefer salmonella to chlorine on their chickens, but european food health and safety argues that the practice is needed in the USA due to the very unsanitary, and therefor cheaper, chic…

The US also has more lax rules than Europe has governing what food chickens can be fed. Without going into the rather revolting details, this is a legitimate reason to exclude US chicken.

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#139

Post by Cederfjard »

Hello71 wrote: post #91
magicalhippo wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Norway we have the infamous "E6 ham". We have an import tax on dry-cured ham[1], but not unprocessed meat. Someone figured out it was cheaper then to import unprocessed meat from Spain to Norway, turn the truck around as soon as they were customs cleared and drive the 3000 km or so back to Spain for curing. Once cured they'd re-import the processed meat, which now has a different tariff due to being "Norwegia…

source? upon searching for "e6 ham", "norway ham tax", "e6 skinke" etc found only this post.

Quick search found this, from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation in 2014: https://www.nrk.no/norge/ellevill-skinkereise-1.11613122

Translated: https://www-nrk-no.translate.goog/norge/ellevill-skinkereise...

Re: Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

#140

Post by cgriswald »

autoexec wrote: post #131
bentcorner wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also the infamous Toy Biz, Inc. v. United States case where Marvel Comics argued that their X-Men toys where "nonhuman toys" and not dolls to avoid an import tax. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Biz%2C_Inc._v._United_Stat... The irony is that in the X-Men universe, the X-Men fight for a unification of mutants and humans.

Still, technically true though I'd think. Mutants aren't human. The X-Gene makes them "Homo sapiens superior" and distinguishes them from humans who were mutated by other means (radiation, spider bites, etc). Do X-men want to erase the distinction or do they just want peaceful coexistence between the two species?

As species boundaries go, human/mutant is incredibly arbitrary. Either a mutant or a human can be created from a pairing of human-human, mutant-human, or mutant-mutant. It would be like classifying blonde people as a different species.
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