08.06.09
Microsoft Keeps Running from the Law… and from Tax
Summary: The company behind “Windows tax” is not interested in paying income tax
THE last time we wrote about Microsoft's systematic tax evasion was this post about Dublin. The short story was that Microsoft’s considerations when building datacentres are as much political as they are technical. So this relocation too seems to fit a familiar pattern.
“Due to a change in local tax laws, we’ve decided to migrate Windows Azure applications out of our northwest data center prior to our commercial launch this November,” the company says on the Windows Azure blog.
As Mary-Jo Foley’s headline put it, “Tax concerns to push Microsoft Azure cloud hosting out of Washington state.”
It says it all really. These stories of Microsoft tax evasions have become so repetitive that they are tiresome and predictable by now. █
“My background is finance and accounting. As a socially conscious venture capitalist and philanthropist, I have a very good understanding of wealth management and philanthropy. I started my career in 1967 with the IRS as a specialist in taxation covering many areas of the tax law including the so-called legal loopholes to charitable giving. […] However, the Gates Buffet foundation grant is nothing more than a shell game in which control of assets for both Gates and Buffet remain the same. […] The only difference is that the accumulation of wealth by these two will be much more massive because they will no longer have to pay any taxes.”
The Gates and Buffet Foundation Shell Game
Jose_X said,
August 7, 2009 at 6:51 am
>> THE last time we wrote about Microsoft’s systematic tax evasion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_avoidance_and_tax_evasion
>> “Tax avoidance” is the legal utilization of the tax regime to one’s own advantage, to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. By contrast “tax evasion” is the general term for efforts to not pay taxes by illegal means.
Just wanted to point that out in case the intent wasn’t to imply Microsoft *illegal* actions in this event (of working to avoid taxes on Azure cloud).
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Good point, but you might want to read this for example: “Microsoft in tax evasion soup”
Jose_X Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 8:03 am
I didn’t want to imply there was no wrongdoing, just that I didn’t notice any from what was posted.
Microsoft has been caught many times stating ordinary reasons for some action or even claiming generosity on their part but staying quiet about illegal/unethical/negligent/etc actions that placed them in a certain position in the first place.
Judging by the two updates at the bottom of the story, perhaps Microsoft may have struck a deal or is getting Washington state to ease up.
aeshna23 Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Tax avoidance isn’t bad or evil. High tax rates imply too government in the economy. Tax avoidance simultaneously helps the firm to make more money and encourage governments to lower taxes. Both are good!
zatoichi said,
August 7, 2009 at 10:41 am
Why are you accusing Microsoft of “running from the law” in a headline to a story that doesn’t support the contention that they’ve broken any law?
Every publicly-traded company has a fiduciary responsibility to its stockholders to do things like attempt to reduce the taxes it pays. The headline is completely misleading (again), Roy.
aeshna23 Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Roy can’t be expert in everything. The political left has so confused people relative to basic economic common sense that they view the economy with the most strange ideas–such as corporation are evil, while they benefit from those corporations. Also, money for government programs grows on magical trees. Taxes? What taxes? Roy may be a victim of that confusion.
zatoichi Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Roy can’t be expert in everything.
He certainly seems to post numerous stories based on misinformation. He’s quite hesitant to correct, them, too.
aeshna23 Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
On the other hand, Roy is a fountain of information and much of that information is important and accurate. But it is humanly impossible that some errors won’t get through. I don’t think a single mistake negates a person, nor does a series of mistakes from Roy negate his BoycottNovell project. Where else would you go to get so much information on this topic?