First Do No Harm: The Senate Staff Discussion Draft on Cost Recovery
8 Pages Posted: 14 Feb 2014 Last revised: 21 Mar 2014
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First Do No Harm: The Senate Staff Discussion Draft on Cost Recovery
First Do No Harm: The Senate Staff Discussion Draft on Cost Recovery
Date Written: February 3, 2014
Abstract
The Article analyzes the recent Senate Finance Committee staff discussion draft on cost recovery and accounting. The discussion draft took significant steps forward on cost recovery by amortizing research and development, half of advertising, and oil and gas drilling costs over five years; and repealing percentage depletion, and last-in, first-out and lower-of-cost-or-market accounting methods for inventory; extending real estate lives to 43 years; and ending bonus and accelerated depreciation for equipment.
The draft did not go as far as it should have in extending the life for intangible assets attached to a business as a whole; businesses and real estate should both have a 43-year tax life. The draft also should have ended the complicated section 1231 treatment, and it should have capitalized more costs.
On the other side, the discussion draft would harm the tax system by moving to depreciation pools and allowing immediate expensing of material amounts of inventory and equipment. Allowing expensing of material amounts of costs creates a caste system under which “small business” is tax exempt, even for rich owners, whereas salary bears normal ordinary income tax.
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