Strategy Tax
The "tax" incurred as a result of products developed inside a company that have to accept constraints which go against competitiveness, or might displease users — in order to further the cause of another product.
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Origin
The term originated on April 30, 2001, when developer and blogger Dave Winer published a post on Scripting News, crediting it to ex-Microsoft engineer Ben Slivka. Slivka had led early development of Internet Explorer — a product driven by strategy, not revenue — and coined the phrase to describe the hidden costs of subordinating a product to corporate goals. Joel Spolsky later spread the term widely through his tech commentary.
Updated February 22, 2026