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Protesters Blockade Microsoft's Seattle Headquarters Over Tax Breaks

Posted by timothy on from the orchestrated-outrage-on-display dept.

reifman (786887) writes "A thousand unionized healthcare workers protested outside Microsoft's Seattle offices over its Nevada tax dodge on Friday. Microsoft shareholders have pocketed more than $5.34 billion in tax savings as Washington State social services and schools have taken huge cuts. In a hearing Wednesday, the Supreme Court suggested it may hold the Legislature in contempt and order it to repeal all tax breaks to restore proper funding to K-12 schools and universities." I suspect Microsoft's lawyers are careful to engage in legal tax avoidance rather than illegal tax evasion. Geekwire notes "The South Lake Union satellite facility is not a major office for Microsoft, compared to its presence in Redmond. It’s not clear why the workers didn’t protest at Microsoft headquarters."

5 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Misleading Headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    It could be that the Starbucks sipping culture is the problem, not a company that has actually created jobs and paid billions in taxes.

    1. Re:Misleading Headline by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: -1, Troll

      Shhhhhh!!! You can't say things like that!!!

      --
      "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    2. Re:Misleading Headline by udachny · · Score: 0, Troll

      Nobody should be paying any income related taxes, they are morally repugnant because they assume that all individuals are owned by the collective, as if people are slaves rather than free individuas and unconstitutional.

      --
      MY OTHER COMMENTS
    3. Re:Misleading Headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Fuck Washington State and fuck Seattle. Tax law is the prerogative of the legislature, not a bunch of robed libtards, but that's the situation that these voters have created for themselves. That same pseudo-hippie statist middle-class mentality has precluded broadband deployment in the city as well.

      Please, tax your golden geese out of Seattle and Washington. The sooner the better.

  2. Re:Voliunteer workers for the IRS? by Gadget27 · · Score: -1, Troll

    You are absolutely correct. I don't see much difference, fundamentally, between whats happening here and if protesters showed up at my house after they found out I took a mortgage interest deduction, put a portion of my income into a tax deferred account, and leased a car through my business in order to lower my taxable income.