By SN
Saturday June 6, 2009
Slashdot – June 6, 2009:
“Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is threatening to move Microsoft employees offshore if Congress enacts President Obama’s plans to curb tax avoidance by US corporations. ‘It makes US jobs more expensive,’ complained billionaire Ballmer. ‘We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the US as opposed to keeping them inside the US.’ According to 2006 reports, Microsoft transferred $16 billion in assets to secretive Dublin subsidiaries to shave billions off its US tax bill. ‘Corporate tax is part of the overall advantage of doing business in Ireland,’ acknowledged Ballmer in 2005. ‘It would be disingenuous to say otherwise.'”
“Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.” – Thomas Jefferson
Obama either flunked US History or, is stupid. Take your pick.
Oh wait, they, and many other companies haven’t been moving people/jobs out of the country already? Hmmm, strange.
Guess they have the ability to take their toys and go to a new country if they want. Eventually the new country will do the same thing when they realize they should/could be getting more. It is called doing business. Governments are allowed to play the game as well, as they have something to offer, just like businesses do.
The point is that in the end the government and the business will find the happy medium, with each side continuously trying to gain an upper hand 🙂
Good riddance.
They have been finding ways to avoid paying the existing taxes, and then try to make it seem that those same taxes are somehow “new” when the loop-holes and avoidance mechanisms are eliminated.
Go ahead…
Fire everyone in Redmond, and hire new people offshore.
or maybe…
Tell everyone in Redmond they have to move overseas if they want to keep their jobs.
Good luck with that.
Just don’t keep trying to make it look like you are a “good corporate citizen” when you are cheating on your taxes.
Your investment in Dublin-based companies wouldn’t have to be “secretive” if there wasn’t a compelling reason to keep them hidden, amirite?
Screw Baldmer and the horse he rode in on.
F*ck Warren Buffet!
I’m all about individuals and businesses avoiding taxes. Don’t fall into the class envy trap.
I don’t normally agree with Ballmer, but in this case I do. The tax and spend Dems will drive every profitable company from this land and all the jobs that go with it. I guess this is the change we call believe in.
It is economics 101. Cities, counties, States and countries are all competing for businesses. Microsoft can merely change their primary headquarters to Ireland and their US operations will become a subsidiary. They will do that when the cost of tariffs and foreign taxes are less than the cost of the taxes they pay to the US. Simple as that. The same thing is going to happen to a lot of finance industry in NY for the same reason. For all those lefties that think “good go somewhere else” remember that a lot of jobs will go with them in addition to a boat load of tax revenue.
Raising the tax rate is not the best way to increase tax revenue. The best way to increase tax revenue is to entice companies and individuals to put their money in taxable investments.
So? You might not like him, or MS, or Redmond, or change, or anything but he is right.
LOWER TAXES if you want jobs.
LOWER SPENDING if you want LOWER TAXES.
WTF!
Other wise start packing.
Dems don’t realize that raising taxes ultimately leads to lower tax revenues.
Or, we could just say “Fuck you MS. Guess what Operating System just became part of the public domain because you avoided the taxes on it”?
I understand the EU isn’t too happy with MS either.
In this mad race to the bottom, could some wing nut tell us what taxes the Democrats have raised. Eff the bullshit about “they will”, what taxes have they raised?
“The selfish spirit of commerce… knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain.” –Thomas Jefferson to Larkin Smith, 1809. ME 12:272
“Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise.” –Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1785.
http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff5.htm
So, if I hide $50 million in an offshore account to avoid paying taxes on it, and the government finds out about it, does it mean my taxes were raised, or I just got caught?
You know I think Obama should be informed that jobs are created by companies and that many work off a low profit margin already? Not every buiness makes a lot of money. Especially in a world economy where wages for a similar job are much lower. Hence the reason so many jobs have left the US already. How many more jobs are you going to scare away just to take care of your huge deficit? This robbing Peter to pay Paul is rediculous. I love how the new unemployment figures have dropped and the government is touting recession ending. Hello, they made be less per month but they are still going the wrong direction Obama. Maybe we should throw another 700 billion at the problem?
Stop paying Microsoft tax!
http://ubuntu.com/
How about the US government deciding to switch to another OS? Balmer has always had a big mouth, and often comes across as a clown. I haven’t used a MS product for years, he can take it to hell as far as I’m concerned. MS predatory business practices has stifled innovation for over a decade. They should have been broken up for antitrust years ago.
Balmer is full of it. Which is cheaper, paying your frakking taxes or buying off the government of what ever country you are thinking of moving to? I say good riddance and don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out. With out Uncle Sugar to protect them Microsoft will be kaput within a decade.
If Steve Jobs does this then he is a genius, that is looking out for Apple shareholders. If Ballmer does it then he is part of one of those greedu corporations that employ thousands and just want to screw the Government.
In the end, businesses will do what is most profitable and libs who whine about reality are helpless to change it.
All of you seem to be under the impression that most Americans are employed by businesses that take advantage of tax shelters and engage in other illegal activity.
Given that most Americans are employed by small businesses and these businesses don’t have the resources to open up shop in multiple countries to take advantage of tax havens, doesn’t a tolerance of this illegal activity constitute an unfair governmental hand out to the largest and most powerful of businesses, allowing them to further expand by out competing and gobbling up small business, thus putting many people out of work?
I wonder if the false efficiency of reducing employees, er, ‘human resources’ to the minimum that most large international companies employ would even -be- profitable if they didn’t get all of the big government contracts, tax loopholes and tolerance of outright lawbreaking that they do? Oh yea, and slave labor in other countries, that helps too.
If Balmer wants to leave, he’s welcome. Frankly, if most the these rapacious international corporations left entirely, and we instituted policies to give small businesses real benefits and perks for doing business in the high quality, high employment manner that small shops, small manufacturing, and small financial enterprise usually behave in, then we would have full employment and a much higher quality of life in no time.
What would make this different than any other company. Even Kaiser Permanente just outsourced there IT to India via IBM Global Services.
If the Federal Government decided to break up the MS monopoly, that would really hurt Ballmer. So would the government’s promotion of LINUX or another open source OS.
Yup, what the wing nuts don’t realize is MS needs the US government more than the government needs MS.
This guys so clueless it hurts. First of all, The US charges less in taxes personal and corporate than any place else in the civilized world(per capita not collective). He knows we don’t want him in Europe and that they couldn’t get away with the same crap here that they’ve been doing there. He could take his craporation to India or Russia or China, they’d kiss his ass there. That’d be fine until they nationalize them or reverse engineer their products. I’d love for him to try leaving the USA, it’d mark the beginning of the end.
>The US charges less in taxes personal and corporate than any place else in the civilized world(per capita not collective)
That used to be the case, but not anymore. Corporate taxes are relatively high.
How about we just put Ballmer in the Cabinet instead?
Way to go Balmer! Anyone who tells the great asshole Obama to go fuck himself can’t be all bad.
Please move to China..
PLEASE MOVE to china…PLEASE…
Then if you really mess up, we can have your head chopped off.
26..LESS tax in the USA..
WOW, you didnt add up all of it did you.
Average Corp, pays in tax, (state, local, Unemployment Ins, Social Sec, …) for Each employee, he must match what the Employee PAYS.
That 33% you get chopped off..The EMPLOYER PAYS ALSO. not counting Health and benefits. In most cases, the employer in the USA pays almost EQUAL in benefits and TAX for the EMPLOYEE.. An employee making $10 per hour, the Employer is paying out AT LEAST $10 per hour in tax and benefits and vacation time..
Obama is doing a great job in the short time he’s been in office. Too bad the wingnuts here don’t see that.
And yes, what taxes are being increased for the majority of US citizens? Can’t find them?
Yes, he’ll be a great president when all is said and done.
Bush, on the other hand, well….his legacy will be written in court documents which will fill up his Presidential Liebrary.
Microsoft is a cheat. They are using the resources of the US and paying Ireland for them. Is that what you mean by “land of the free”?
MSFT supplies jobs to 56,000 US citizens… while they rip off of say 3 billion (they said “billions”) to taxpayers… that’s costing US taxpayers over 5 million per job to make up that tax difference! By comparison, their gross US 2008 taxation (on reported income, cough) was $4.3 billion. Is it worth it? Is Microsoft’s attempt at blackmail worth considering? Do you want employers who can control the government?
Balmer want’s you all to kiss his ass. Obama says no. I agree.
#31 – pedro – I see Canada with a big grin calling Ballmer right now.
Canada has taxes as well…