Microsoft Pushes For Public Education Funding While Avoiding State Taxes

theodp writes: After stressing how important the funding of Washington State education — particularly CS Ed — is to Microsoft, company general counsel Brad Smith encountered one of those awkward interview moments (audio at 28:25). GeekWire Radio: "So, would you ever consider ending that practice [ducking WA taxes by routing software licensing royalties through Nevada-based Microsoft Licensing, GP] in Nevada [to help improve WA education]?" Smith: "I think there are better ways for us to address the state's needs than that kind of step." Back in 2010, Smith, Steve Ballmer, and Microsoft Corporation joined forces to defeat Proposition I-1098, apparently deciding there were better ways to address the state's needs than a progressive income tax.

Comments

Everyone loves taxes

[srichard25]

Everyone loves taxes when it is someone else paying them.

Re:Everyone loves taxes

[Anonymous Coward]

Everyone loves taxes when it is someone else paying them.

I love taxes even when I'm paying them. What I don't love is people who want the benefits of public services and infrastructure (i.e. civilization) but don't want to pay for it.

Re: Everyone loves taxes

[Anonymous Coward]

Federal waste is a problem. Education funding is not part of that problem. In Washington State, two thirds of school funding comes from the state, and the tax Microsoft is ducking is state revenue. The Feds and bridges to nowhere have nothing to do with this, but MS is refusing to pay its share of the cost for services that it is demanding from the state. It would be one thing if they were using tax loopholes to avoid paying for something irrelevant to them, but the fact that they have their fingers in the pie and don't want to pay for it is as reprehensible as it gets.

Re:Everyone loves taxes

[garyisabusyguy]

Sure, sure it is popular to claim that the government wastes money

It goes back to the Proxmire Golden Fleece Awards where a Senator from Wisconsin would claim to have identified horrendous wastes of money, while the state that he represented (Wisconsin) raked in billions of dollars in milk and cheese subsidies.

Between that and claims of 'Welfare Queens', the political right has played a distraction game to subvert programs like education while lining their pockets with money going to defense contractors and industries in their own backyards

FWIW, education is not a waste, neither are any number of programs that make for a healthier, smarter and more capable workforce. Companies like MS claim that they cannot find the 'right' resources here and that they have to bring in workers from overseas, while they simultaneously subvert the American worker by shortchanging us all when they find ways to avoid paying their taxes

Americans who are not billionaires or corporations need to stop buying into the BS propaganda and start demanding that companies pay their fair share

Re:Definitions count!

[garyisabusyguy]

Unfortunately most business ethics as taught these days highlight the need to return value to the shareholders over most everything else

They like to highlight ideas like, "how would you feel if your grandmother saw this on the front page", or "think how the cost of criminal prosecution would hurt your company", while simultaneously propagandizing grandma to believe that being a tax cheat is like the Founders of the country, or subverting Congress to reduce the punishments associated with their crimes

If grandma is pleased that you are a tax cheat, and the fines for being one are negligible, there is no barrier in the current world of 'business ethics' to doing it

Re: Definitions count!

[ultranova]

I bet if Washington state lowered it's tax rate to equal Nevada's MS would consider relocating MS licensing group back to Washington State...

And then Nevada lowers its tax rate to get it back, and then it's Washington's turn again, the end result being that Microsoft pays a nominal tax if any at all. And since that means other people and companies must pay more to make up the difference, their effective tax rate goes up, they do the same, and ultimately all tax burden gets concentrated on those too poor to move. But of course they can't pay, so the state must cut education, infrastructure maintenance, law enforcement, etc. And that, in turn, makes the state an even less attractive location for business.

It's simply another manifestation of the illness that's killing capitalism. But at least the process of decay is fascinating to watch, as pathological patterns become the norm and eat away the structure of society. Sooner or later it's frayed enough that some crisis launches the final domino effect of collapse.

How about it Washington state, do you want the tax revenues or the talking point against MS?

Washington state wants to survive, just like any living thing. Unfortunately, being a cultural organism rather than biological one limits its options, since it must be careful not to discredit the very mythology that justifies its own existence. And in the US, the mythology of the nation has been tightly coupled with the mythology of capitalism. Untangling them or altering capitalism to less toxic form is a job for the prophetic archetype; Washington state can do little but play for time and hope one appears before it runs out.

Of course, the whole reason prophets are so rare is because you always run the risk of being one of those things found wanting and cast out, but at some point the prevalent mythology of the society has been exhausted of its possibilities so there's little choice except to get a new one or die.