03.28.10
Microsoft Obeys Communism, Not Capitalism
Summary: Microsoft’s tax evasion in the United States expands (robbing the American population), whereas Chinese rules that suppress the population are upheld
A READER OF OURS CONTRIBUTED a couple of articles [1, 2] about his/her nation (China) and how Microsoft engages with the Communist party to suppress the Chinese people. That’s where we got the image seen above. Microsoft is obeying Chinese law but not obeying US law. According to the Seattle press, “Wash. gov approves smelter, server farm tax breaks” (meaning that Microsoft will be given even more tax breaks).
Gregoire said she’d spoken to Microsoft Corp. and other companies about their desire to build new server farms if the tax break were enacted, and predicted at least three of the facilities would be built soon.
Poor Microsoft. As a former Microsoft employee continues to stress, the company hoards money of very high proportions while avoiding tax.
I estimate that Microsoft has avoided B&O royalty tax on $149 billion in licensing revenue since 1997.
More here:
While we’re still reviewing and clarifying changes to the latest house-passed bill, it appears that the honorable Democratic Representatives Tomiko Santos and Kessler pushed through adoption of a last minute amendment (pdf) striking the clauses that might otherwise have given Microsoft’s tax dodge amnesty on an estimated $1.25 billion in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties.
You can see the amendments to SB 6143 here. The follow up amendment (pdf) by former Microsoft veteran Rep. Hunter directs the Department of Revenue to study the issue further, but does not forgive any tax debts, as his earlier bill seemed to….
Yes, Hunter does his duty to a former employer [1, 2, 3]. On the other side, Rep. Chase is actually serious about investigating the facts presented by Reifman.
Things are heating up in Olympia and Microsoft’s Nevada Tax Dodge is now being actively presented for discussion within the Democratic caucus. We greatly appreciate Rep. Maralyn Chase’s strong concerns for tax fairness.
Will Microsoft ever pay the tax it has been evading? With so much influence in the United States government it can get away with anything. In China it’s a different story. “Brin drove Google to pull back in China,” claims the Wall Street Journal.
“Ultimately I guess it is where your threshold of discomfort is,” Mr. Brin says. “So we obviously as a company crossed that threshold of discomfort.”
They claim that it’s to do with ethics and this was actually triggered by an Internet Explorer attack [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. The chain reaction can easily be seen now that GoDaddy follows Google’s footsteps. Here are some more items on the subject:
• China condemns decision by Google to lift censorship
• Google stops censoring China-based search services
• Google Turns Up the China Burner, Microsoft Feels the Heat
• Microsoft’s Suport of Chinese Censorship: Smart Business, Poor Morals
• Google (Nasdaq:GOOG), Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) and China
• Google does the right thing in China — will Microsoft follow?
• Microsoft will not change China operations, official says
• Microsoft and Apple Should Follow Google Out of China
• Google China move puts pressure on Microsoft, Yahoo
Yahoo! is becoming just Microsoft’s relic after the corporate hijack. Upon completing his proxy battles, “Icahn’s Influence Fading From Yahoo’s Board,” says Nasdaq.com.
In any event, all companies depend on manufacturing in China, so Google’s departure too will not be a complete one. As for Microsoft:
• Google Exits China, But Microsoft is Staying
• China Rules Hurt U.S. Companies as Google Exit Looms
• Google’s China Loss is Microsoft’s Gain?
• We’re staying in China, says Microsoft, as free speech row with Google grows
“We’re staying in China” means “we’ll censor because of profit”.
Microsoft has been accused of “enabling tyranny” and the subject was covered in:
• Congress On China: Google Gets A Big Wet Kiss. Microsoft Is “Enabling Tyranny”
• Congress Rebukes Microsoft’s Chinese Censorship, Microsoft Fires Back
• Microsoft criticized for stance in China following Google’s shift
• Congressman: In China, Microsoft is ‘enabling tyranny’ (yes, even Microsoft Nick quoted it)
Microsoft came under attack Wednesday from a House lawmaker for not following Google’s lead in resisting China’s demand for foreign firms to abide by the country’s censorship rules and Internet restrictions.
During a hearing focused on Internet control in China before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Rep. Chris Smith, R-NJ, singled out Microsoft, which has said it will continue to operate in China and follow Chinese laws. Microsoft “needs to get with the program” and “join the side of human rights…rather than enabling tyranny,” Smith said.
Here comes the propaganda machine:
• The Ministry of Truth Limits Reporting on Google in China
• Chinese Gov’t Gives Press Orders On How To Report On Google’s China Decision
• The Trials of Being a Chinese Reporter
• China accuses Google of being tool of the U.S. government
• How China’s internet generation broke the silence
Microsoft has its own propaganda machine, so Microsoft apologists and fans (some of whom indirectly paid by the company) mostly look at this with glee:
• Microsoft response to Google maneuvers in China
• Google Ends Internet Search Censorship in China (also in here)
• Can Microsoft capitalize on Google’s decision on China?
• Could Google-China Spat Help Microsoft Bing?
This hopefully shows the effect of Microsoft spinners. They just seem to think what Microsoft can gain from this, so it’s not about the Chinese people. Nobody asks the right questions, excepting business morals and instead focusing on the competition between corporations, not the people of China versus their oppressor. █
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satipera said,
March 28, 2010 at 11:46 am
The west may not censor or self censor as much as China, but we do and for similar reasons. Where the west is behind China is in the security services spying on citizens the old fashioned way; as it is causes bad publicity. We somehow think that if government and commercial entities use IT to do the job then somehow this is completely different and in no way relates to paranoid and authoritarian abuse of power. See panopticism.