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Microsoft To Get $100M Annual Tax Cut and Amnesty
reifman writes "Despite a $2.8 billion deficit, Washington State's House Bill 3176 would provide Microsoft with an effective $100 million tax cut annually and possible amnesty on its $1.27 billion Nevada tax maneuverings. Under current law, all of Microsoft's worldwide licensing revenues of approximately $20.7 billion annually are taxable at .484 percent. Under the new law, only the portion of software licenses sold to Washington state customers would be taxable. Ironically, after slashing Microsoft's tax burden, HB3176 directs the Department of Revenue to crack down on 'abusive tax transactions' like those in Nevada — except for a loophole that may provide Microsoft amnesty on its twelve year practice. The bill's lead sponsor is Ross Hunter of Medina, home to Bill Gates and a number of current and former Microsoft billionaires and multi-millionaires, and other areas around Microsoft's corporate campus."
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=3176&year=2009
Alot of stupid bills get submitted, luckily most don't get passed.
If this one gets enough notice perhaps the bill will be killed.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=3176&year=2009
Doesn't look like its passed yet.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
There are no Income Taxes in Washington State.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_USA_highlighting_states_with_no_income_tax_on_wages.svg
All by way of saying that .484% adds up to a pretty tidy sum when levied on Microsoft's gross licensing revenue, worldwide.
ahhh.. no Halliburton Received No-Bid Contracts During Clinton Administration For Work In Bosnia And Kosovo. “Halliburton has also gotten some no-bid jobs in Iraq, just as it did in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, and for the same reason: Not a lot of other firms have similar expertise in supplying the U.S. military, and with a war on there’s no time to stage a lengthy bidding process.” (Max Boot, Op-Ed, “Don’t Blame Halliburton,” Los Angeles Times, 4/22/04) During Clinton Administration, Halliburton Received $2.2 Billion From US Government For Work In Kosovo. “Between 1995 and 2000, while Democrat Bill Clinton ran the country and Republican Dick Cheney ran Halliburton, there was no talk of favoritism or political ties as the Houston-based company billed the government $2.2 billion for its work in Kosovo.” (James Rosen, “Is Iraq’s Reconstruction Rigged?” The [Raleigh] News & Observer, 10/5/03) Halliburton’s Performance Praised By Former Vice President Al Gore’s “National Performance Review.” “[V]ice President Al Gore’s National Performance Review mentioned Halliburton’s performance in its Report on Reinventing the Department of Defense, issued in September 1996. In a section titled ‘Outsourcing of Logistics Allows Combat Troops to Stick to Basics,’ Gore’s reinventing-government team favorably mentioned LOGCAP, the cost-plus-award system, and Brown & Root, which the report said provided ‘basic life support services – food, water, sanitation, shelter, and laundry; and the full realm of logistics services – transportation, electrical, hazardous materials collection and disposal, fuel delivery, airfield and seaport operations, and road maintenance.’” (Byron York, “All Smoke, No Fire: The Administration’s Critics Are Wrong,” National Review, 7/14/03)
The concept you are talking about are called 'Riders' and a few places - Minnesota - has amendments to their state constitutions that specifically prohibit 'riders' that don't tie into the main bill in a logical fashion. This is to prevent self-pay raises and other acts of toadyisms attached to 'Mom, Dad, America, and Apple Pie' bills that no one would ever vote against.
Great idea. You may want to take a look at the economy of The Republic of Ireland, Iceland, Romania and a few others before considering it. (Spoiler: it tends to fail spectacularly.)
Your distaste for corporations and Microsoft in particular have blinded you...
Fuck off.
You've clearly read nothing of the rest of this exchange. Nowhere did I accuse of Microsoft of not contributing, I simply asked if Microsoft had sufficiently.
My distaste for corporations and Microsoft - especially as an economic powerhouse - is entirely non-existent.
You want a soft target to peddle your superiority, pick somewhere else.
Did I mention: fuck off.
Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
After all, these businesses bring in major direct (income taxes)
The State of Washington, where Microsoft headquarters is located in Redmond, has no state income tax
One of our chief problems here in Washington is that we don't have any personal income tax at all. Meaning that right now to make up our budget deficit we're left with far less appetizing choices. We can increase sales tax, B&O tax, property tax, gas tax and that's about it. All of those are more damaging to the state economy in the current recession than a minor bump to the income tax would be. But the residents of that state, myself included, are very much concerned that we'll end up with our current tax burden plus an income tax. Trying to figure out how to give us an income tax to replace some of the other taxes is a really tough problem as people on both sides of the aisle are pretty skeptical that it would be a replacement rather than add on tax.
An increase to income tax is dollar for dollar more effective at raising revenue than raising the taxes that we have available. Plus you get a subsidy from the federal government that we don't really get. Technically we do often get a sales tax write off, but it sucks and is a serious pain in the ass to actually get back as you have to do a lot of paper work to substantiate for it.
Grishnakh, I know something about business. I worked for Boeing for 11 years. And I had software development and contracting businesses in Washington for 6 years. You would think that what you're saying would be true, but it didn't seem like it in Washington. You see, Washington doesn't have an income tax on corporations OR individuals. They have sales taxes, but not that much more than Oregon and certainly less than California. They have property taxes too, but lots less than in Texas or California. The thing you didn't mention about profit taxes is what a windfalll it is for accountants who get to classify this or that boondoggle as "expenses". A gross revenue tax at a reasonable rate is simple (although there are some deductions) and it works for Washington. Are you really arguing for more dependence on the U.S. Federal Tax Code? Most states piggyback of the feds and then make their own modifications. Have you ever (if you had a business, owned business property or sold investments) been absolutely positive that your federal income tax return was absolutely correct? If so, you're in the minority. Look at the size of the section for accountants in the Yellow Pages for proof.
You obviously know nothing about Washington's B&O Tax. The rate is different BY INDUSTRY. You pay a different rate if you create software than if you build airplanes and yet another rate if you grow lentils or make wine. And if you don't think Boeing has influence on the rate it pays, you're smoking something. Here is a list of the rates: http://dor.wa.gov/Content/FindTaxesAndRates/BAndOTax/BandOrates.aspx. Please notice the manufacturing rate of .00484 and the "Manufacturing of Commercial Airplanes, Components, or Aerospace Tooling" rate of .002904. In the list, I count 4 classifications specific to Boeing business and 1 specific to PACCAR (Kenworth, Peterbuilt, etc).
But Sparky, the restaurants, theaters and shops you patronize ALL pay a portion of their gross revenue to the state to support highways, education, courts and prisons, state parks, etc. Microsoft has basically claimed that all that software you build is being manufactured and sold from Nevada because Nevada's tax structure is more advantageous than Washington's for this particular activity. Living in western Washington is part of the Microsoft employment package - how would you feel if everything at work was the same, but you were located in Elko or Tonopah, Nevada? No ocean, no rainforest, mostly no trees, hardly any water, no skiing, and very sparse entertainment possibilities (besides possibly gambling away your salary). Oh, and legalized prostitution....
Microsoft is gaming the rules in a way very similar those who move their investment money to Switzerland in order to avoid paying income taxes. It's dishonest. Microsoft has this wonderful Windows Genuine Advantage (sic) program to keep me playing by their rules, but they don't want to play by mine (I WAS a Washington resident)? I don't think so. How can a business legitimately argue against software piracy when it cheats on it's taxes.
Oh, and to provide full disclosure, I've been a Microsoft stockholder for 20+ years. How much longer is questionable....
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