> Although probably not the actual intended effect
This is actually a really common intention in laws like this. Get the tax cuts during your term, and then kick the can down the road so your successor's term is marred by the bad law. If your successor wants to fix it, they need to pass a different tax to recoup the costs, and incur the publicity of "raising taxes".
I think it’s partly that and partly the fact that tax bills tend to be scored on a ten year time window. Note that this law doesn’t actually change the amount of tax that software companies can deduct, it just requires them to spread the deduction over several years. So if you’re scoring your new tax bill on a ten year window and five years into the bill this thing kicks in, then it looks like more tax is being collected in years 5-10. But that’s just an illusion because all the deductions are still there, they’re just being pushed out beyond the end of the window where they don’t “count”. At least this is my understanding.
You’re operating cashflow decides the health of your business, not your accounting profits, not anything else.
Only the operating cashflow and whether that grows as your startup/business grows decides whether your business lives or dies, everything else is for investors, mommy and daddy for final report card.
A business operator’s #1 focus is Operating Cashflow and this tax insanity law hurts cashflow tremendously for american service businesses who need to compete with all other major economies who dont have such an insane law.
This is actually a really common intention in laws like this. Get the tax cuts during your term, and then kick the can down the road so your successor's term is marred by the bad law. If your successor wants to fix it, they need to pass a different tax to recoup the costs, and incur the publicity of "raising taxes".