In short: yes. A $1k monthly expense is a lot easier to book than a $12k purchase that depreciates over time.

And from an investor point of view, if the business fails you don’t have to worry about the sell off / write down of any hardware that was purchased to get the company started.

The simplification of OpEx vs CapEx is worth a decent premium, especially in the early days when no one knows if the company really has a chance and everyone is scrambling to figure out what you’ll be when you grow up (aka product / market fit).

Oh then you'll love finding out how much of the overall economy is guided by tax code idiosyncrasies - read up on stock buybacks vs. dividends for extra horror.

Do not forget that "capital" purchases can also subject to local property taxes (called business personal property). You can imagine a large farm that pays property tax based on the farm size, but a manufacturer with large capital equipment on a small lot would not pay so much property tax. To make sure that all capital is taxed, you have to pay taxes on Capital purchases, at the market value of the item.

If you can lease it instead, the tax burden is placed on the lessor. In Houston, that's around 3% of the value of the property.

The second paragraph beginning "The real magic, though, is flexibility: " describes practical benefits that are not just due to accounting.