Um. Puerto Rico is part of the United States.
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Microsoft had shifted at least $39B in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico
11–20 of 22 posts
Re: Microsoft had shifted at least $39B in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico
#12Some thoughtful consideration of corporate welfare:
http://pitchforkeconomics.com/episode/corporate-parasites-ho...
Re: Microsoft had shifted at least $39B in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico
#13That's good, right?
Governments destroy wealth while private businesses create it. It is better to have wealth retained by its rightful owners than expropriated and wasted by the government.
Re: Microsoft had shifted at least $39B in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
>"it" refering to people as "it" is kind of wrong also the only reason its better (if thats even true) is because things used to be so shitty that anything is better than that
> refering to people as "it" is kind of wrong. I don't agree. labor is functioning as a collective noun here. it's common to use "it" to refer to a collective noun (even if the collective is people), especially when there is a sense of the collective acting as a single unit (eg, the jury delivered its verdict).
And a gentle reminder not everyone is native in English.
Re: Microsoft had shifted at least $39B in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico
#15Um. Puerto Rico is part of the United States.
Except PR citizens and corporations don't generally pay US income taxes. There are exceptions though, like if the income is from US activity. They do pay a few other federal taxes (like FICA, FUTA), but those aren't relevant to the article.
Re: Microsoft had shifted at least $39B in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico
#16Um. Puerto Rico is part of the United States.
Well, for a multinational corporation, the sentence still makes sense and doesn’t seem gratuitous or sensationalized, as they could say they shifted $39B of UK profit to Ireland or something. It does leave a vague and perhaps intentional implication of crossing some kind of border, so they could have said “$39 billion of profit in the incorporated US”, I suppose.
Re: Microsoft had shifted at least $39B in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Corporate "slaves" are some of the best paid in history. I'm sure the "model" figured out that if their labor is generally wealthier, it is far more productive and profitable.
>"it" refering to people as "it" is kind of wrong also the only reason its better (if thats even true) is because things used to be so shitty that anything is better than that
It refers to the "model".
Re: Microsoft had shifted at least $39B in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico
#18Um. Puerto Rico is part of the United States.
Except PR citizens and corporations don't generally pay US income taxes. There are exceptions though, like if the income is from US activity. They do pay a few other federal taxes (like FICA, FUTA), but those aren't relevant to the article.
No taxation without representation.
Re: Microsoft had shifted at least $39B in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except PR citizens and corporations don't generally pay US income taxes. There are exceptions though, like if the income is from US activity. They do pay a few other federal taxes (like FICA, FUTA), but those aren't relevant to the article.
No taxation without representation.
Yes... I mention this because it's the only reason Microsoft's tax dodge works, since as Joe mentions, PR is part of the US.
Re: Microsoft had shifted at least $39B in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico
#20"Who deserves a corporation's taxes?" is still an unanswered question globally.
A company pays employees who pay income taxes in jurisdictions where they live and work.
It pays payroll taxes in the regions it operates and employs people.
It pays sales taxes on the materials it purchases and collects and transfers sales taxes for stuff it sells, to the state/jurisdiction where the sale takes place.
It pays property taxes on buildings it owns.
All of this is obvious, but then the company as a whole likely has some revenue and (maybe) profit - who taxes those? The country where it is registered? Where it has the most employees? Every country and jurisdiction it operates in or has sales in, with some agreed-upon split?
This last question is the cause of every single "company XYZ paid nothing in taxes" or "company XYZ uses a tax haven" article out there.