Microsoft CEO, Steven Ballmer, said the largest software vendor in the world would be forced to offshore the company if Congress enacts President Obama’s plans to increase taxes on foreign profits of U.S. companies.
According to Bloomberg, “Obama on May 4 proposed outlawing or restricting about $190 billion in tax breaks for offshore companies over the next decade. Such business groups as the National Foreign Trade Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable have denounced the proposed overhaul.”
Said Ballmer, “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.”
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
To the Editor:
Abolish the corporate income tax.
Of the developed countries, only Japan has a higher corporate income tax rate than America.
In the United States, the corporate income tax rate is 40%. This means that the tax on $1 million of corporate profit is $400,000.
If the $400,000 were spent on creating new jobs, developing new products, or improving efficiency, then the tax should be canceled.
If, however, the $400,000 were paid out to owners, then let the owners pay some tax as part of their personal income tax.
Eliminating the corporate income tax will do more to create permanent jobs than any government-spending plan.
Richard S. Colman
Orinda, CA
June 18, 2009
“Taxing profits is not necessarily bad”
Um, genius, they are taxed. In the country where they are earned. Then as domestic operations expand, that’s more taxes paid here. But apparently you favor double-taxation, which will inhibit expansion and job creation, thereby reducing overall tax revenues. Will you learn economics, please.
Taxing profits is not necessarily bad… do you expect people to tax Losses?
However I thought that all you conservatives always had the line that Corporations never really pay taxes, they just pass them on through. Will you make up your minds please.
As with most things, liberals are just plain stupid when it comes to economics. But they never miss a chance for a good boogeyman, and here it’s “offshoring.” They love to throw out empty rhetoric about “offshore profits” and “shipping jobs overseas.” The problem is that study after study confirms what those with economic acumen and common sense already know: US companies with multinational operations is a GOOD thing for the US economy and workers.
Liberals love to demagogue the myth that these foreign operations are some kind of portal set up to export goods back to the US. Of course this is untrue. Multinationals use their foreign operations to expand their customer base in foreign markets…can we say “duh”? It is very typical to see a pattern where overseas and domestic expansion “feed” off each other and occur in lockstep.
But true to form, liberals see profits as being something inherently “bad,” so what to do? Oh yeah, what we always do: TAX IT. If they succeed in bringing Obama’s insane idea of taxing overseas profits to fruition, then they WILL see a REAL job killer.