"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

Summary: Tax evading is no longer acceptable and bundling in Vista 7 is under fire by Mozilla

Microsoft's tax evasion is a subject that was already explained and explored in:

• Number One Lobbyist Gets Tax Breaks, Government Deals, Innocent Children
• Is Novell's Pal Cooking the Books as Well? (Microsoft)
• Comes, Iowa, Suppression of Truth, Collusion and Tax Evasion
• Summary of Microsoft Tax Evasion Stories
• How Microsoft Harms American Workers, Taxpayers, and the Environment
• Microsoft, a Notorious Tax Evader, Takes Money from Taxpayers to Help Its Own Business (Updated)
• Microsoft is Still Massively Evading Tax, Insider Trading Revisited

It would probably be wasteful to repeat the explanation of what Microsoft is doing, but the latest news suggests that the days of Microsoft tax evasion may be ending (hat tip: Glyn Moody).

Obama declares war on Ireland over tech tax avoidance

[...]

President Obama has declared war on Ireland, the Netherlands and Bermuda, and is giving Silicon Valley a long hard stare as he overhauls America's tax system to bankroll his campaign pledges.

The White House has unveiled proposals to clamp down on US firms it reckons are hiding profits overseas to benefit from lower tax rates, while claiming exemptions for overseas investment on their US tax returns. DC is also targeting wealthy US individuals as well as corporations who are evading US taxes by hiding their cash in tax havens, such as the Cayman Islands, effectively avoiding tax in the US or pretty much anywhere else.

Did they really need to wait for a global economic meltdown in order to realise that this appalling misuse of loopholes by large corporations cannot be tolerated?

In other interesting news, Mozilla is turning up the heat on Microsoft because Vista 7 is claimed to be even more anti-competitive, which we knew. The original article from the Financial Times requires subscription, so here is the accompanying coverage from Reuters, which cites the Financial Times:

Microsoft Corp's next version of Windows is stirring fresh complaints of anticompetitive behavior from rivals who say the new version of the operating system gives unfair advantage to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, the Financial Times reported.

For some valuable background, see this previous post. ⬆