05.07.13
US Entities Microsoft and Apple Stop Paying US Tax, Borrow Money Instead
Stopping contribution to their home country
Summary: The financial games of Microsoft and Apple culminate in more loan-taking manoeuvres, which give legs to speculations and rumours
ARE Microsoft and Apple good for the US economy? It depends on whose economy. Microsoft made some few Americans very affluent, but those people and the company they work(ed) for, Microsoft, do not pay tax, or only pay negligible amounts in tax. Apple, to a certain degree, is the same.
The other day we showed 'legalised' tax avoidance using corporate tricks that lobbyists make "legal". We showed how Microsoft moles in government let Microsoft avoid billions in tax, leaving others to fill the fiscal gap. This is robbery, technically speaking, but nobody will be sent to jail for it because the legal system is controlled by those with a lot of money,
According to this report as well as others, Apple keeps much of its money abroad, despite being US-based. With an estimated 22-30 trillion dollars (global aggregate) in offshore tax havens, this too deserves criticism. No wonder the richest families continue to gain trillions in value every year while others struggle to earn enough money for food and shelter. Microsoft has been doing this for years as well and it still does it.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), one of four U.S. companies with a top credit rating from Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service, sold $2.67 billion of bonds with a portion of euro-denominated debt paying a record-low coupon.
The world’s largest software maker issued bonds in euros for the first time, raising 550 million euros ($715 million) with 20-year, 2.625 percent notes, the lowest coupon among similar-maturity, non-financial corporate bonds sold in that currency, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The debt pays 55 basis points more than swaps.
Microsoft has debt to repay. We wrote about this in many posts for over half a decade. Contrary to common myths, Microsoft is not always profitable, but it is always corrupt, at times with its finances, too. █
“One strategy that Microsoft has employed in the past is paying for the silence of people and companies. Charles Pancerzewski, formerly Microsoft’s chief auditor, became aware of Microsoft’s practice of carrying earnings from one accounting period into another, known as “managing earnings”. This practice smoothes reported revenue streams, increases share value, and misleads employees and shareholders. In addition to being unethical, it’s also illegal under U.S. Securities Law and violates Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (Fink).
–2002 story about Charles Pancerzewski, Microsoft
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