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.
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.