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Frank Elavsky (he/him) ⌁
@frank.computer

Yeah, the secret reason is taxes. Trump made cuts in 2017, senate balanced it with a time bomb that went off in 2022. "Section 174" allowed software engineers to be written off as R&D headcount, where R&D was a tax write-off. Repeal that, and companies have to pay taxes for engineers. More details:

qz.comThe hidden time bomb in the tax code that's fueling mass tech layoffsA decades-old tax rule helped build America's tech economy. A quiet change under Trump helped dismantle it
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Frank Elavsky (he/him) ⌁
@frank.computer

I always thought how it made NO SENSE that cutting-edge tech companies would cut 25 to 30% of their engineers while making record profits because of "AI" or whatever. AI would theoretically allow every engineer to be *more* efficient, so why make cuts?

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Frank Elavsky (he/him) ⌁
@frank.computer

And the tax change didn't just affect top tech companies but all R&D software engineering headcount, which is why industries from video games to trucking logistics cut software engineers over the last 3 years. The austerity in tech isn't AI. AI has been a cover. The cuts are because of taxes.