from Hacker News

Adding unusable RAM for tax reasons

by meithecatte on 1/20/22, 5:11 PM with 293 comments

  • by geocrasher on 1/20/22, 5:42 PM

    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% tarrif.

    Tarrif averted, thousands sold!

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_BRAT

  • by eb0la on 1/20/22, 6:01 PM

    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-... )

  • by supernova87a on 1/21/22, 2:22 AM

    It's called tariff engineering for a reason.

    Columbia will add an extra pocket below the waistline on a women's shirt so it gets classified as a utility/work garment and they can price it 10% cheaper. https://www.marketplace.org/2019/05/29/theres-a-reason-your-...

    Converse will line the rim/bottom of a shoe with felt so it can be classified as a slipper. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-is-why-your-c...

    Canon will choose to make an insufficiently sized heatsink on its DSLR so that in video mode it has to shut down after 20 minutes so it can be classified as a camera and not a video recorder. https://www.cined.com/canon-eos-r5-heatsink-mod-improves-rec...

  • by SMAAART on 1/20/22, 6:18 PM

    Tax is the reason why Converse sneakers have fuzzy bottoms https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-converse-sneakers-...

  • by cromka on 1/20/22, 7:10 PM

    > Without the stiff competition of the smaller, lighter, easier-to-drive, and more fuel efficient import pickups and vans, Detroit automakers were no longer required to keep pace with innovation of foreign brands.

    One has to wonder how much this innocent-looking levy contributed to the overall global warming situation, by never having the US automakers to be incentivized to manufacture more efficient commercial fleet, and, as such, inbreeding the culture of buying the overly big pick ups and SUVs with massive engines for private use, too.

  • by imposterr on 1/20/22, 5:36 PM

  • by putlake on 1/20/22, 6:54 PM

    NPR's Marketplace had a fascinating story about something similar in the apparel business. They design pockets in various types of clothing to reduce tariffs.

    https://www.marketplace.org/2019/05/29/theres-a-reason-your-...

    Example from the article:

    Certain women’s garments with “pockets below the waist” get lower duty rates than those without. Because of that, a number of the women’s shirts Columbia Sportswear makes are intentionally designed with tiny pockets near the waistline, which lowers the cost of importing them. One of the company’s shorthands for “pockets below the waist” is “nurse’s pocket.”

  • by sparkling on 1/20/22, 7:30 PM

    Something similar: for the original Playstation 2 that was sold in the EU, Sony included a DVD with a BASIC interpreter to classify the console as a personal computer. This little hack avoided some EU import taxes back in the day.

    https://www.theregister.com/2000/11/07/sony_adds_basic_to_pl...

  • by Isthatablackgsd on 1/20/22, 5:40 PM

    Funny enough, I learnt about this from Noel's Retro Lab YT channel last week [0]. When I saw the title, I figured it is about CPC 472 before loading the page. Yup it is. I recommend a video to watch, it is fascinating of why they did and Noel shows the breakdown of this unusable RAM in the video.

    [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ErfWfjN9iU

  • by xtracto on 1/20/22, 7:58 PM

    This was a pretty interesting read. I had to stretch my Google-fu muscles, but I was able to find the original Spanish import tax law from 1985:

    https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-1985-18847 (Google translation below)

    From here: https://www.zonadepruebas.com/viewtopic.php?t=1830

    It's funny that they explicitly set the number of RAM KB for machines. I wonder what was the logic?

    ---

    BY ROYAL DECREE 1215/1985, OF JULY 17, A MODIFICATION HAS BEEN INTRODUCED IN THE TARIFF DUTY ASSIGNED TO SUBHEADING 84.53.B.II OF THE CUSTOMS TARIFF, CONSISTING OF SETTING A SPECIFIC MINIMUM DUTY OF 15,000 PESETAS PER UNIT.

    THE BROAD CONTENT OF THE REFERENCE SUBHEADING, IN WHICH DIFFERENT ELECTRONIC COMPUTER PRODUCTS ARE CLASSIFIED AND TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THAT THE MENTIONED SPECIFIC MINIMUM SHOULD ONLY AFFECT A CERTAIN TYPE OF AUTOMATIC MACHINES FOR THE PROCESSING OF INFORMATION, KNOWN SECTORALLY UNDER THE THE NAME OF "MICROCOMPUTERS", MAKES IT ADVISABLE TO COMPLEMENT THE CITED MODIFICATION WITH THE TIMELY CLARIFICATION LIMITING ITS SCOPE.

    BY VIRTUE OF IT, AND IN USE OF THE POWER RECOGNIZED TO THE GOVERNMENT BY ARTICLE 6 SECTION 4 OF THE CURRENT TARIFF LAW, AT THE PROPOSAL OF THE MINISTER OF ECONOMY AND FINANCE, AND PRIOR APPROVAL BY THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF AUGUST 28, 1985, I HAVE :

    ARTICLE 1. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE APPLICATION OF THE SPECIFIC MINIMUM RIGHT OF 15,000 PESETAS PER UNIT INTRODUCED IN SUBHEADING 84.53.B.II OF THE CUSTOMS TARIFF BY ROYAL DECREE 1215/1985, OF JULY 17, IT SHALL BE UNDERSTOOD BY TAXABLE UNIT AFFECTED BY THE CITED RIGHT THOSE AUTOMATIC MACHINES FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION THAT CONSIST OF INTEGRATED OPERATIONAL UNITS, WHICH COMPRISE IN A SINGLE ENVELOPE AT LEAST ONE CENTRAL UNIT AND ONE INPUT UNIT, WHETHER OR NOT PROVIDED WITH AN OUTPUT UNIT, AND WHICH HAVE RAM MEMORY WITH CAPACITY NOT EXCEEDING 64 KB.

    ART. 2. WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO ITS EFFECTIVENESS FROM JULY 25, DATE OF PUBLICATION OF ROYAL DECREE 1215/1985, THIS ROYAL DECREE WILL ENTER INTO FORCE THE SAME DAY OF ITS PUBLICATION IN THE "OFFICIAL STATE GAZETTE".

    GIVEN IN PALMA DE MALLORCA ON AUGUST 28, 1985.-JUAN CARLOS R.-THE MINISTER OF ECONOMY AND TREASURY, CARLOS SOLCHAGA CATALAN.

  • by rietta on 1/20/22, 10:12 PM

    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.

  • by Rarok on 1/21/22, 12:03 PM

    I'm Spanish and I'm finding this very hilarious because that explains a "urban legend" that was about that computer. People said that the Amstrad had a secret chip that only the NSA could use. Yes secret chips for a foreign government in a offline computer.

  • by sodality2 on 1/20/22, 5:39 PM

  • by Johnie on 1/20/22, 9:30 PM

    This is like how tax policies gave rise to White Claw https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/how-tax-policy-gave-...

  • by JoeAltmaier on 1/20/22, 9:12 PM

    Pistols manufactured in Mexico are imported as a kit of parts, then assembled as "Made in America!"

  • by genezeta on 1/20/22, 7:35 PM

    > The CPC472 itself was sold for how many? pesetas (how many? euros)

    As far as I can remember, the CPC472 was sold for the same price as the CPC464. It was never marketed as an actual improvement over the 464 and competition in the market was hard enough to be able to justify a higher price without a clear justification.

    Then again my memory is not that good now so anyone feel free to correct me.

  • by kubatyszko on 1/21/22, 12:36 AM

    My boss in the early 2000's told me a story where in the 70's, they would bring in computers from West Germany to Poland, and there were restrictions on how "powerful" they could be due to a ton of restrictions. So they would get a lot of spare parts with each computer, bought separately, to make them usable as intended.

  • by techie128 on 1/21/22, 4:31 AM

    It is unfortunate to read about such decisions. I can't imagine the amount of waste, carbon footprint and other environmental impact due to such decisions. This is purely policy failure. I am curious - did they advertise these machines with the extra bit of RAM? That would surely be false advertising as the additional 8KB was unusable...

  • by evancoop on 1/21/22, 1:10 PM

    In everything from federal law down to an organization's handbook, a simple principle applies:

    If a nonsensical action helps one remain in compliance with the rule, it is the rule (not the action) that is nonsensical.

    Amazing how many examples exist.

  • by PaywallBuster on 1/20/22, 6:07 PM

  • by broknbottle on 1/21/22, 1:21 PM

    It's my understanding that is reason for the PS3 having Linux / other OS support at launch. It was classified as a "computer" vs gaming device and this resulted in a lower import tax for certain countries.

  • by cybervegan on 1/20/22, 9:30 PM

    That's so unethical - and Alan Sugar is held up as an example of a business genius?