12.14.09
Microsoft Moves to Reno to Avoid Regular Tax and to India to Avoid Regular Salaries
Summary: Another simplified look at what Microsoft is doing to save money
LAST week we showed that Microsoft was hiring in Reno, which helps its dodging of tax (there are even worse offences [1, 2, 3]). Here is more information on the subject:
The 11 new jobs that Microsoft announced at its Reno operation last week might be the harbinger of something bigger.
After all, the company launched its licensing operation in Reno with only 40 employees in 1997. Today, the Microsoft Licensing GP office employs 250 fulltime Microsoft staff and nearly 400 additional contract workers.
[...]
Microsoft Licensing GP in Reno handles support of licensing agreements with business customers and other organizations in North and South America.
Nowhere in the article does it talk about the impact on tax.
In the video above [via], Reifman, who is a former Microsoft employee, says that Microsoft uses Reno as a form of front. “Its Nevada employees are tools it’s using to avoid this tax,” he alleges.
He then talks about Microsoft’s movement towards India, which is also in this week’s news (Microsoft was accused of tax evasion in India and found guilty).
From the Seattle Times:
Microsoft India boss: More overseas work rotations coming
The head of Microsoft’s India business group, Ravi Venkatesan, told the Wall Street Journal that companies will be rotating talent to fast-growing countries and having more Indian workers spend time abroad to develop experience.
As we stated last week, “there is a lot to be learned from Microsoft’s hiring/layoffs patterns, mostly because Microsoft favours areas of cheaper labour (like China and India) and areas of tax dodging, e.g. Ireland. We provided a lot of evidence before.”
More from the Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft Mines India Talent
Ravi Venkatesan, chairman of Microsoft Corp.’s Microsoft Corp. (India) Pvt. Ltd. unit, recently engaged in an email discussion with Wall Street Journal New Delhi Bureau Chief Paul Beckett on topics ranging from the perception of Indian management at multinational corporations to India’s technological future. Mr. Venkatesan is responsible for Microsoft’s marketing, operational and business development efforts in India.
So to summarise, Microsoft does not properly pay taxes in the United States and it does not keep its workforce in the United States, either. What a selfish company. The laws need to be amended. █
TheTruth said,
December 14, 2009 at 8:31 am
is that the same reason why Conicial is on the Isle of man ?
So when MS put people off you complain, when MS hire you complain, and when MS employes people overseas you complain.
Is that because you are racist ? and dont like seeing people of different colour employed, or is it that you just cant actually believe MS can do anything right.
When you make posts like this you are showing everyone what YOU are really like Roy.
And that is a sad sad sight indeed.
So how much does FOSS pay it’s overseas programmers, Anything ?
But if you going to go after MS for tax evasion, then you should do the right thing and go after Conicial as well. oh wait.
You dont do anything that makes any sense, you just react.
But keep on using all that Novell code in your linux, and continue to show everyone what your really like.
No wonder no one bothers with your IRC anymore, you have noticed your stable group has gone done by 30% to 40%, after 3 years this is all you can do
..
If it was anyone but you Roy, I would say “what a waste”. But it’s you, so no loss..
your_friend Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Interesting how poor these smear jobs are. Roy is racist? What a bad joke.
Free software pays overseas programmers in code that works, just like it pays everyone else, and expects nothing in return. This is a free gift which non free publications are unable to match because they exist to extract profits from all users rather than foster a community. In particular, Microsoft’s treatment of foreign workers is exploitative and borders on indentured servitude, something expressly prohibited by the 13th amendment to the US constitution.
I’m unaware of Canonical’s tax evasions, but given your poor understanding of free software I have doubts about this report. Canonical is closer to a charity than Mr. Gate’s fraudulent foundation, but they should be paying taxes where they have their headquarters if they ever turn a profit. This is trivial next to the massive fraud Microsoft has committed in Washington State and elsewhere.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 11:05 am
It’s better to ignore “TheTruth” (Orwell would love the name!). That’s just “Mutex” (known troll who was banned) nymshifting and attacking Free software, as usual.
Needs Sunlight Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 11:41 am
FOSS is used to create products and services not sold in and of itself. 60% – 90% of the worlds written software, depending on how you measure, is used in-house to enable real business activities.
It’s easy to spot a Microsoft shill a mile away by their talking points. One of the main ones is to yammer about selling software, as if that is the only use for it. Notice how Microsoft products are so bad that it’s not even allowed to publish evaluations and benchmarks. How’s that for preventing discussion of using software.
If business journals and newspapers were to suddenly start talking about using software, then they would quickly notice that Microsoft products cost them productivity, regardless of the additional upfront costs. They would also notice what a bite software patents would be if allowed to spread to Europe.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
If one was to go by the “TCO” meme (which is nonsense when someone funds those so-called ‘studies’), then acquisition costs would hardly matter for most products.
Sure, some software would cost $100,000 per seat, but that’s not Microsoft software.