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Machinists also produce semi-durable assets. Should we depreciate the output of their labor, too? Like others in the thread, I view this as an assault on blue states or maybe to soften my vindictive tone, as an assault on those who are not his core constituents.

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If the machinist is doing r&d, it's essentially the same. Suppose you pay a machinist to build parts for a new machine. This cost would be capitalized. But if you pay them to repair a machine, it's expensed.

IF the machinists are doing R&D, they get the same treatment as software engineers.

Nope.

For machinists, it is up to the employer whether to treat their work as R&D or a regular expense.

After Sec 174, for s/w developers, there is no choice.

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