A common mistake I see folks make, is thinking that depreciation is a permanent deduction. It's not.
You're right......it's NOT a permanent deduction....it's a cost recovery system.
You're also thinking about it wrongly because you're fixated on depreciation deductions for real estate which almost always goes up in value over time. You need to consider personal property which almost always goes DOWN in value over time. If you buy office furniture for a suite of offices for your business you'd depreciate the furniture over 7 years BUT you'd be hard pressed to find someone to pay more than a paltry sum if you tried to sell the stuff after that amount of use. So your "recapture" would be next to nothing.
