Ballmer Says Tax Would Move Microsoft Offshore

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Originally Posted by tonyandclaire89

Steven Ballmer, the Microsoft chief executive, says that they would move some employees offshore if Congress enacts President Barack Obama’s plans to impose higher taxes on U.S. companies’ foreign profits. 'It makes U.S. jobs more expensive,' Ballmer said in an interview. 'We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S.' ... Typically, he said, a company like Microsoft develops a product like Windows in the United States and deducts those costs against U.S. income. It then transfers the technology to a subsidiary in Ireland, where corporate tax rates are lower, without charging licensing fees. The company then assigns its foreign sales to the Irish subsidiary so it doesn’t have to claim the income in the United States." Obama wants to stop all of that, as he has announced. We're going to lose US jobs! Here's Microsoft as much as saying so.

If they get too much further offshore, they're going to end up where they started.

Ballmer is full of smoke.

[tindo80]

Originally Posted by Ruru

You are making your point crystal clear. However in the USA all kinds of people have input into the way the country is run. All kinds of actors and all kinds or reality show stars and even all kinds of non citizens and people outside of the USA have input.

Let them license in Ireland where there is socialized medicine and it takes about 10 years for those unions to break them. Support in India where they are happy to have the work and will be an exploding economy. And manufacture in Mexico which ought to be our 53rd state.

This is an example of executives getting huge salaries for what? For selling out on Americans'. What does this kind of gobbledygook mean:

“It’s just a question of how much will the Dow come down,” Ballmer said. “It’s not about companies anyway; we’re talking about shareholders.”

???????????????????????????

After all they can fall so low to be taken off the Dow like take Citigroup. They fell so low they got taken off the Dow since it wasn't about the company there either. And they are counting on everyone being so numb that we can't figure out what Citigroup was about. They fell so low and got replaced with Travelers whose motto is what? Insurance/Assurance companies motto's might be, "ask the actuaries"

Where are all these insurance companies licensed?

Seems to me that Ballmer is not much different than other CEO's in such big companies. As he himself said, 'its not about the company (its employees), its about the shareholders'. Who cares about the thousands of employed Americans who depend on that job, they dont matter anyway!

That kind of thinking alone shows that its already in their minds to pull a 'verizon' and do exactly what you mentioned. Greed gets the best of the greedy, every time.

I wouldnt have such a problem with such a statement if their company either put forth a superior/reliable product and did not try constantly to stifle competition, but in this case, I say to heck with him.

[Sunny-Days-in-Florida]

Maybe Obama will buy or take over Microsoft next?

He has a plan, over tax them, over regulate them, let them drop to a worthless value and grab them for next to nothing and put the money in his buddies pockets. All along screwing over all the investors and handing his buddies control of it and therefore the money.

Sounds like a plan to me. Let Obama destroy all the businesses in America so he can grab them and have control of everything under the sun.

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^ Maybe he'll switch the government to Macs...

[tindo80]

^ THAT would be real change and progress for the government.

[RedNC]

Originally Posted by shorebaby

So what is their fair share of taxes?

Whatever they are paying now, plus the percentage of taxes owed on what they are hiding offshore.