Microsoft Revenue Quietly Surpasses $1 Trillion (and escapes many taxes)

[PSPS]

From: http://jeffreifman.com/2016/05/08/microsoft-revenue-quietly-surpasses-1-trillion/

As I was researching Microsoft’s Washington State tax breaks, I realized that the company’s cumulative revenues surpassed $1 trillion this past quarter. You might expect a company to announce a milestone like this and bask in this incredible accomplishment — but not Microsoft. It chose to stay silent as it faces increased public scrutiny for holding $108.3 billion in earnings offshore (an incredible 41% of its all time profit) and its history of tax dodging at home in Washington State.

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In summary, Washington State’s become a kind of libertarian promised land. Combined, Microsoft and Amazon, its babies, have earned more than $1.5 trillion in revenues and helped create more than 161,220 millionaires but the wealthy here pay the lowest share of taxes in the entire country. As a result, we:

- Don’t have enough money to pay for education. The state supreme court has held the legislature in contempt over its failure to adequately fund schools.
- We have the country’s fourth worst traffic. Our citywide light rail plan is not yet approved and at least 25 years away.
- We have record homelessness, a heroin epidemic and a wave of unaffordable housing.
- We have a spike in violent crime and unsolved murders but can’t afford to hire more police.
- Our incredible native orcas and salmon remain endangered.
- We have an untreated nuclear waste facility which continues to have severe leaks.
- And we lack the funds to build enough public restrooms for Amazon’s abundance of male programmers

Nicely done Bill and Jeff.

[RobertEarl]

1. They don't like Bernie

Bernie will make them cry Uncle