EPA Smackdown

Dean E

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Mar 30, 2022
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"The Supreme Court dealt a significant blow to the Biden administration’s climate change agenda, ruling Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot pass sweeping regulations that could overhaul entire industries without additional congressional approval."

Hmmmmmm, I wonder if this will enable tuning to come back from the shadows?! Should make for some interesting discussions. Dean
 

Chevy1925

don't know sh!t about IFS
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Oct 21, 2009
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"The Supreme Court dealt a significant blow to the Biden administration’s climate change agenda, ruling Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot pass sweeping regulations that could overhaul entire industries without additional congressional approval."

Hmmmmmm, I wonder if this will enable tuning to come back from the shadows?! Should make for some interesting discussions. Dean
link?

the issue i see here is, the defeat of emission devices being illegal has been in place WELL before the epa started really enforcing it soooo, i cant see it really meaning much.

now i dont know how much of that affects the RPM act and what it was about (not allowing people to turn VIN vehicles into racing vehicles) and i would bet its more geared toward that but we need more details to know.
 
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Dean E

Active member
Mar 30, 2022
104
41
28
Blair, NE
link?

the issue i see here is, the defeat of emission devices being illegal has been in place WELL before the epa started really enforcing it soooo, i cant see it really meaning much.

now i dont know how much of that affects the RPM act and what it was about (not allowing people to turn VIN vehicles into racing vehicles) and i would bet its more geared toward that but we need more details to know.
The emissions standard was established by the Clean Air Act that Congress passed into law. I might be misled but I thought the tightening standards on emissions was being driven by the EPA. Dean
 

2004LB7

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the way I read it, it looks to be related strictly to power plant emissions and not vehicle. A separate lawsuit and ruling would likely be needed to change that
 

sneaky98gt

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Nov 5, 2013
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That ruling didn't really have anything to do with vehicle emissions or enforcement.

Speaking of, enforcement is still alive and well. From here in NC just last week: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdnc/p...ating-clean-air-act-selling-thousands-illegal

Something that has shocked me about some of this stuff is how much money these tuners have been making. I read in another article that this guy had grossed over $10 million in 4 years, and owed about $350k in taxes over that same period. No matter exactly how you slice it, that's a LOT of profit.
 
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2004LB7

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Depends on what his cost of goods sold are.
exactly. making 10 million when you have 9,990,000 in operating cost and material expenses, labor, etc then you only have 10k left over a period of 4 years. if they now owe $350k in taxes then they are well into the red. now add any fines and it can put them under.

it's a pretty common mistake many make to look at how much a business makes without taking into account their operating expenses. labor is often times over half the cost. then you have materials you need to purchase. those are normally the obvious but insurance/workers comp, cost to rent or buy a wearhouse or shop, utility bills, business license, office supplies, computers, etc. then there are taxes that are separate for business that most of us will never see but they have to pay. then if you have to do a bunch of R&D before you even have a product to sell one can be in the red for many years before any actual "money" is made
 
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sneaky98gt

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Nov 5, 2013
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Depends on what his cost of goods sold are.

exactly. making 10 million when you have 9,990,000 in operating cost and material expenses, labor, etc then you only have 10k left over a period of 4 years. if they now owe $350k in taxes then they are well into the red. now add any fines and it can put them under.

it's a pretty common mistake many make to look at how much a business makes without taking into account their operating expenses. labor is often times over half the cost. then you have materials you need to purchase. those are normally the obvious but insurance/workers comp, cost to rent or buy a wearhouse or shop, utility bills, business license, office supplies, computers, etc. then there are taxes that are separate for business that most of us will never see but they have to pay. then if you have to do a bunch of R&D before you even have a product to sell one can be in the red for many years before any actual "money" is made

I've got a fairly good handle on how businesses work. You don't pay federal taxes on any of the items you mentioned. You pay taxes on profits as shown on the income statement. Some quick math would indicate around $1.5M in profit needed to require $350k in taxes. And that's assuming none of the profit got rolled over into "reinvestments", a.k.a. race trucks, tow trucks, engine builds, 'marketing', etc. That's pretty solid over 4 years time for a small business.

I've seen similar types of numbers casually mentioned here by tuners years ago, and heard some numbers from a local, well-known tuner (well, ex-tuner). Not saying they didn't work hard for it, or that they don't deserve it. But they had some good times until the EPA shut it down. Seems every one of these EPA releases confirms it when they mention that they sold tens of thousands of units over some period of time.