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Microsoft Avoids Washington State Taxes, Gives Nevada Schoolkid A Surface Laptop (seattletimes.com)
theodp writes: The Official Microsoft Blog hopes a letter from a Nevada middle schooler advising Microsoft President Brad Smith to "keep up the good work running that company" will "inspire you like it did us." Penned as part of a math teacher's assignment to write letters to the businesses that they like, Microsoft says the letter prompted Smith to visit the Nevada school to meet 7th-grader Sky Yi in person as part of the company's effort to draw attention to the importance of math and encourage students and teachers who are passionate about STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. In an accompanying video of the surprise meeting, Smith presents Yi with a new Surface Laptop that comes with Windows 10 S, a version of the OS that has been streamlined with schools in mind. "Not bad for a little letter," the Microsoft exec says.
Speaking of Microsoft, Nevada, and education, Bing Maps coincidentally shows the school Smith visited is just a 43-minute drive from the software giant's Reno-based Americas Operations Center. According to the Seattle Times, routing sales through the Reno software-licensing office helps Microsoft minimize its tax bills (NV doesn't tax business income) to the detriment, some say, of Washington State public schools.
Microsoft's state and local taxes will drop to just $30 million for the last year (from an average of $214 milion over the previous 14 years) according to the Seattle Times. "A Microsoft spokesman said the decline in 2017 was caused by the company's deferring taxes on some income to future years and the winding down of the company's smartphone business."
Speaking of Microsoft, Nevada, and education, Bing Maps coincidentally shows the school Smith visited is just a 43-minute drive from the software giant's Reno-based Americas Operations Center. According to the Seattle Times, routing sales through the Reno software-licensing office helps Microsoft minimize its tax bills (NV doesn't tax business income) to the detriment, some say, of Washington State public schools.
Microsoft's state and local taxes will drop to just $30 million for the last year (from an average of $214 milion over the previous 14 years) according to the Seattle Times. "A Microsoft spokesman said the decline in 2017 was caused by the company's deferring taxes on some income to future years and the winding down of the company's smartphone business."
... for a personal income tax on everyone else in Washington State, so the rest of us can pick up the slack dropped by his former company.
Wrong Bill Gates. It was his dad, Bill Senior, that was behind the income tax initiative.
Even though the tax fell only on people making $200k or more, it was voted down, because voters (likely correctly) figured that, once in place, it would eventually be extended to tax many more.
The problem is the tax laws, not the companies taking advantage of them. Do you claim every and all deduction you can? Guess what, companies do the same. Do you pay an accountant $300 to convert your $2400 tax bill to $1200? Guess what, this is what companies do on a much larger scale.
The solution is streamlining the tax laws to make it clear who pays and who doesn't.
My solution? Members of congress, the president, and congressional staffers are not allowed to use any outside tax service to figure out their taxes. No Turbotax, no tax accountants. These assholes get to do their taxes, by hand, on paper. That will simplify the tax code overnight in under a year.
Don't even get me started on Wisconsin and Foxconn. That right there is some truly retarded bullshit.