Earth to Microsoft, We Already Pay Taxes.
I believe what you mean is we should raise taxes, rather than add a new one.
Speaking at a security conference in San Francisco, Microsoft Vice President for Trustworthy Computing Scott Charney pitched the Web usage fee as one way to subsidize efforts to combat emerging cyber threats — a costly venture, he said, but one that had vast community benefits.
The problem with this is: We already pay fees and taxes for web usage. We also pay fees and taxes for phone usage (both cell and land lines), cable TV, and utilities in general.
This is someone who has never looked at a bill for any service he pays. We pay sales taxes, franchise fees, FCC fees, and the like typically adding up to about 20-25% of the bill, depending on the service. For instance, my Vonage business account is supposed to cost $49.99/month but the bill is always $74 or higher. If I don’t go over my free minutes for the toll free or fax numbers, it’s $74/month. If I go over… well, you get the idea.
Go ahead, open up your next bill or dig out one of your old ones and look at all the various fees and taxes that are added to the supposed cheap price of services. It becomes more ironic when you find you’re paying taxes on a government owned utility such as your electric bill or water services.
Where has this guy been living? In a cocoon? People are already hurting trying to make their dollars stretch and he wants to add yet another tax. I suppose this is one of those: The government will insure that it receives its fair share of our labors regardless of how they describe it, be it income tax or some fee for supposed services that never seem to materialize into anything concrete except more governmental control.
March 4th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
MicroSoft wants US to pay taxes?
March 4th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Are you saying you agree with me about something?
March 4th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Absolutely. Scary huh?
March 4th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Gives me hope that one day I’ll get through to you that relying and trusting the government is not the way to go. Sooner or later it leads to misery, whether yours or your descendants. I don’t want mine looking back and blaming me.
March 5th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
“Gives me hope that one day I’ll get through to you that relying and trusting the government is not the way to go.”
What does the government have to do with this…This is Microsoft, a shining star in the world of capitalism, that is asking for and suggesting this. Sounds to me like Microsoft is just looking for another form of income and not wanting to take responsibility for something it should be doing itself. Capitalism at its best….Not that I am in anyway against capitalism or that I don’t agree with you…..It just seems funny that you are blaming government for the statements of a publicly held company…..
Black in America Baby…..the revolution has been televised
March 5th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Bruce, Microsoft doesn’t institute taxes, the government does. That’s what it has to do with the government. Have you ever seen a tax (or tax idea) the government doesn’t like?
March 5th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
The point, as I see it, is that sure we pay taxes, but
Microsoft does not. You tell me,
is that not ‘wealth redistribution’ UPWARD?
March 5th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
I saw that after I posted and thought about updating the post to include it but figured somebody would say something.
BB, wealth redistribution is always upward. Taxing the rich is just a slogan. That’s the myth of redistribution. Either big corporations or the government takes most of that wealth before any of it goes to the supposed targets. Whatever they’re taxed they get a cut of through the “back door.” The reason why Microsoft wants that new tax is so they can get subsidies. I guess they’re not making billions now that Bill Gates isn’t running the corporation anymore.
March 6th, 2010 at 10:59 am
“BB, wealth redistribution is always upward”. True.
Always has been since Ogg invented the flint arrowhead. If you think about it, though, it becomes a
‘diminishing return’ thing; if wealth continues to accumulate to fewer and fewer, those with less and less become more and more. The blood in the turnip is all gone. We always see this in
third world countries, starved bodies lying in the streets, while the top four or five families own whatever
wealth there is. One of the reasons we are not a third world country, one of the reasons we dislike socialism is because somehow, one way or another, we have managed to keep at least some wealth in the hands of the producing members of our society. And that is why so many of those third world countries chose revolution/communism/chaos. Like Durant said, wealth becomes concentrated in the hands of a few, then when the masses of poor people can no longer abide the situation, wealth is redistributed either by peaceful means—legislation or decree—or by violent revolution. He wasn’t talking about us, he was talking about the systole and diastole throughout recorded history..those ziggarats under the Euphrates sand,
the ruins of ancient Egypt, the remains of the Roman
colesseum, when Spain ruled the sea, etc. From a
historical persepective, even here, consider WWII:
it was a desperate time, and everyone pitched in..
millionaires paid 90% in income tax. Sure, that was
distributed downward..to people that made tanks and ships, to paratroopers, sailers, molly the riveter.
What happened? Well, IMO those years after, the fifties, were the best economic times we ever saw.
People had money and people spent. I’m the historian, you’re the economist….dunno HB.
March 16th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
I actually thought Bruce was going to make a complete comment without referencing race… My mistake.
March 17th, 2010 at 8:29 am
Gary, at least he’s honest about it. I much prefer an honest racist to one who hides what they are, regardless of whom they’re racist against.
March 17th, 2010 at 11:41 am
Ya know, Gary, that Tytler quote has an interesting etymology. Rings familiar, and I recall from about 3-4 years back a
blogger actually paid over $84 for Tytler’s book, looking for that nefarious quote. HB, with my new window installation, my taxes this year were ridiculously low; so low, I’d be worried, ‘cept I had them done by a CPA. One of the few advantages of being older than dirt….
March 17th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Gary,
“I actually thought Bruce was going to make a complete comment without referencing race… My mistake”
Actually I did make a complete comment without mentioning race….there was nothing in my “comment ” about race…..I signed off as I usually do, but that wasn’t my comment…..I would think someone as intelligent as you should be able to separate the two…..OH MY MISTAKE……
Black in America Baby…..The revolution has been televised
March 17th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Steph,
“Gary, at least he’s honest about it. I much prefer an honest racist to one who hides what they are, regardless of whom they’re racist against.”…….
I think that if you really believed that I am a racist you would have booted me a long time ago……..And if that is what you think then you really should boot me because you wouldn’t want any racist tainting your blog……Yes I am honest on my feelings about race….does that make me a racist……”why some of my best friends are white”…..And let’s really think about this…the only reason that I found your blog is one day I was surfing and came across “Hang Right Politics” and there were comments being made about race…..when I commented on what was being said I was immediately referred to Steve who just happed to be Black (that was before you knew I was Black)….The rest is history……I am a little confused as you know I am a simple man….It seems that when you make a comment about race “you are making a point”…when I make comments about race I’m racist……..HMMMMMM…….
Black in America Baby…the revolution has been televised
PS….As I told Gary my comment on this post didn’t mention race
March 17th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
No, I wouldn’t boot you, Bruce. Nor would anyone else I know and respect unless you really started pushing with racist rants.
That signature you use is racist. You have the right to say it all you want. I won’t deny you that. And, like I said, at least you’re honest about it.
But you may as well realize now that some people are going to find it quite offensive because if it were the reverse statement, i.e. “White in America Baby” it would be deemed racist. Racism isn’t a one way street.
March 17th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
BB, good to hear you got a tax break. However, don’t expect it to last. Just be thankful that you got one for once.
March 17th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Guess I’n naive about taxes. I could say Bush raised them, because when he was in I was dishing out over
$13G a year to the feds. In reality, it wasn’t Bush, it was my situation, kids left, few deductions, big paycheck and bonuses. You tell, me was it Bush?
March 17th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Nope.
March 18th, 2010 at 9:37 am
I didn’t think so. And now that I pay practically nil, should Obama get the credit? Dunno about y’all,
but what we pay in taxes has more to do with our personal finances than any president or administration. I sure never blamed Ike, Kennedy,
Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush or Obama for taxes. (Lots of other things, though)
March 18th, 2010 at 9:47 am
You’re right about the personal finances. However, the other factors that affect personal finances have a lot to do with it and the government doesn’t seem to think that’s important. No, no… they’re more concerned about how to keep spending money we don’t have.
If personal finances are going down and corporations are cutting back because they’re not making enough money to keep people employed, then the government coffers get smaller but this government doesn’t seem to understand that at all.
Instead, they think they can keep doing what they’re doing and simply printing money to pay for it. The value of a dollar is finite and the value is decreasing with every printing. Soon we’ll be the Soviet Union before it crashed, carrying rubles around in wheelbarrows to buy a loaf of bread while Congress seems to think it can’t happen here.
Nothing is so assured that it can’t happen.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Steph,
“But you may as well realize now that some people are going to find it quite offensive because if it were the reverse statement, i.e. “White in America Baby” it would be deemed racist. Racism isn’t a one way street.”
I bit my tongue and I wasn’t going to say anything but you know me I couldn’t resist…….I had to comment……Yesterday was St. Paddy’s day and there were people all over espousing “Irish in America Baby” (well maybe not that exact quote but you get my drift)…….Last month Chinese New Year was celebrated…….Chinese in America Baby!!!…..Along with being Irish-American Heritage month this month is Greek-American Heritage month……Greek in America Baby!!!!……People talk to me all of the time about their heritage whether it be Irish, German, Italian, English, Chinese….and so on…..by the way they have a lot of pride in that heritage…….I don’t consider that racist……It just happens that my skin color and my ethnicity can be described with the same word “Black”…….Are you telling me that I shouldn’t be proud of my ethnicity……Are you saying I can’t talk about it…..And if I do then I am racist…….HMMMMM…..If I am offending people then the Irish the Greeks the Spanish and everyone else should offend them too…….
Black in America Baby………the revolution has been televised
PS
By the way if you haven’t noticed I am an American and very proud of that……..that’s what the “in America” part of my sign-ff means
March 18th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Then why qualify your patriotism with conditions?
BB, I know the history of the Tytler quote, and that is why I attached the signature as I did. It was copied from the web page you linked; “Attributed to ALEXANDER FRASER TYTLER, LORD WOODHOUSELEE”
Whether he said it or not, it is absolutely true.
March 18th, 2010 at 11:17 am
Actually, no, I don’t get the sense that you’re proud of it. Not when you follow it up with “the revolution has been televised.”
Instead I get the sense of some sort of revenge, but the revenge is being directed at the wrong people. You don’t see it that way and there’s nothing I can say that will convince you.
As for the rest, it’s not a crime to be proud of your heritage and culture.
March 18th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Steph,
“The revolution has been televised”…..
Let me explain that one to you……As you know I grew up in the 60’s….in fact I grew up in the Bay Area……home of the Black Panthers…….They had a mantra that said “The revolution will not be televised”…..to them it meant there would be a war in the streets (with guns) that would change every thing…..That kind of change I never agreed with……….I have always felt that we shouldn’t fight America but do our best to be a part of America……….Politics aside we did elect a Black President …something that people like my mother thought they would never see in their lifetime or anybodies lifetime (every time she sees me now she has to mention that fact)……there are Black CEO’s in Fortune 500 companies like American Express, Xerox, Delphi Corp. and others….That’s the revolution I am talking about….and with our now 24 hour news media it all was televised…..No its not about revenge against America its about being part of the fabric of America….No its not about being a victim but being a victor…….
Black In America Baby…….the revolution has been televised and has only just begun
March 18th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
I call BS simply because you never used that before Obama was elected. Furthermore, given your track record of blindly defending Obama, it’s all about him.
Where were you when Michael Steele had Oreo cookies thrown at him?
Where were you when Clarence Thomas was opposed and they drug out Anita Hill to give false in the effort?
Where were you when Condoleeza Rice was called a Mammy?
Where were you when the New Black Panthers waved sticks in people’s faces to keep them from voting?
You were silent by ignoring these things every time they were brought up.
Furthermore, I remember pointing out to you, along with some others, those CEOs and you belittled it. I can go back and find those comments on Hang Right. It’s not actively being blogged but it’s still up.
March 18th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Wow Steph,
You are right….I never used that phrase before Obama was elected…….I signed of with things like……Obama in ‘08….History in the making……Barack the vote…..Just Because…….
But you are wrong about me not defending people like Michael Steele and Condoleezza Rice…..I do and did say that I don’t agree with their politics but I admire their accomplishments…I’ve made comments that they are products of “affirmative action” that every one condemns….I’ve said that they show that all Black people don’t think alike and all Black people weren’t voting for Obama as some said…..but I would challenge you to find comments that I made or supported that were degrading to them…..and I would challenge you about finding a comment I made belittling any comments you made about Black CEO’s….because I don’t think this is the first time I made comments about Black CEO’s maybe I’m mistaken but I think I pointed this out before….If you can find those please show me……and I will stand corrected……..
Black in America Baby….The revolution has been televised
March 18th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Bruce, you’re just like your Obamessiah; deny, disassemble, and weasle. Nobody cares most of the time. You are what you are.
Since your Obamessiah and his thug Congress just screwed me royally. I’m guessing it’s time to close up shop and let somebody else deal with it.
My little old business might not make much but I still have to pay taxes on it. So what’s it worth to me if I start losing money because I have to pay more in taxes than I actually make?
Hubby talked about moving to Texas. How about I let my house go, too, and leave that for the rest of you to deal with, too? It’s not like I can afford it anymore anyway with all the new taxes that are going to slapped on me simply for existing as self-employed. We’re already down $20k/year in income so there’s no point.
I mean, what’s the point of trying to do anything when liberals are just going to claim all of it as theirs when they did nothing to earn it?
For the first time in my life I’m not proud of my country.
March 19th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Steph,
“Nobody cares most of the time. You are what you are.”
Let me back up a little….I think we are letting my rhetoric get in the way …..you are right I am what I am……I am sorry to hear that you having to make some tough decisions…….having to decide things about your family, your business and contemplating moving has to be tough…..I wish you the best with your decisions……and maybe it doesn’t come through all of the time but I hope that you know regardless of my ranting I have a lot of respect for you and what you do here….that’s why I keep coming back……….
March 19th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Spare me your platitudes, Bruce. This is what you rooted for, this is what you voted, and this is what you have in your signature “the revolution has been televised.” You’re all in for whatever the Obama Administration and this Democrat Congress do.
Too late to back up now.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
I see your point, HB. I had hard financial times during the Reagan administration. And naturally blamed him.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
BB, the hard times you had during Reagan are going to seem like nothing with the avalanche of taxes headed our way. You will be a prime target with your investment income and SS if you get that, too, along with anybody making over 60k. Anybody who pays taxes is going to be hit but 60k and up are going to be hit the worst.
I don’t necessarily blame a president for hard times unless that president does something to directly affect them. I didn’t have it all that easy under the first Bush or Clinton, for that matter but I could live with that just like I lived with Reagan and Carter, but this what’s happening now is not the same.
Obama is directly affecting with what is happening and he thinks we’re too stupid to know it. He has taken over banks and other financial institutions, auto companies, and now he’s after medical industry. All in spite of the fact that the government can’t run itself let alone an industry of any sort.
It’s what he campaigned on but nobody was really listening. He was so “eloquent”, so “charismatic”, so “much more intelligent Bush” when all the people who voted for him either knew and wanted this or thought he was saying something other than what he was.
You reap what you sow which is why I’m not letting Bruce off the hook.
March 20th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Thank his predecessor. When I rotated back to the states off active duty in 1982, I truly thought I’d never be able to afford a house. Even tough they were selling for 40-50k, the interest rates were double digit.
In part, our current crisis isn’t Obama’s fault, but we cannot blame Bush completely. He did start the ‘bailout trend’, but his administration warned early on (2003) that the current status quo of lending practices that were initiated by the Clinton Administration would lead to disaster in spite of people like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.
Obama is just exacerbating and already mangled economy with more bad ideas, and would have taken 6 months to a year to correct will take an enire decade.
Like I said over at BLUF, it’s like we’re living in a Japanese Karaoke bar and it’s amateur night.
March 20th, 2010 at 11:09 am
Gary, regarding “and would have taken 6 months to a year to correct will take an enire decade.” I hope I’m not a pessimist, just a realist; but until we get mfg, producing our own stuff, and an industrial base, rather than sending our jobs overseas, it will take much longer than a decade. Those once great powers
Spain, Netherlands, Great Britain…went downhill when their banks decided ‘moving money around’ was more profitable for a few insiders, rather than investing in
basic infrastructure. Given the current thinking, we will be struggling in the long haul, I’m afraid.
March 21st, 2010 at 8:13 am
I agree with that, BB.
But in the last century, our strength has always been research and development. I was part of the Silicon Valley boom in the 90’s, at least on the construction end of things, working for clients like Intel, IBM-Hitachi, Advanced Micro Devices, Applied Materials, etc. and watched that market dwindle as technology moved abroad for cheaper labor.
Right now, the Biopharmaceutical industry is booming, but with Obamacare, the Pharm companies will suffer greatly meaning a tremendous loss of employment opportunities. Currently, Vacaville, CA is one of the biggest areas for biopharm, attracting companies like Genentech and Chiron that manufacture some of our most popular cancer drugs known to man. The city of Vacaville has even built a college to train people to work in these ‘clean’ facilities. I shutter to think of what will happen if this health care package is passed.
With the exception of Ford, our auto industries are suffering. Refining has stopped expanding and banks, as everyone knows, are being bought by the Government.
The entrepreneur is the backbone of this country, but with the added burdens placed on them with Idiotcare, many more will fail and we will then become a nation dependent on government programs.
And as we read the final chapter of this great book, we watch Freedom and Liberty ride off into the sunset, never to return again. Many died defending them, and in return, they gave us 235 years of honor and prosperity.
When that happens, we will be ripe for invasion.
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:42 am
“But in the last century, our strength has always been research and development. I was part of the Silicon Valley boom in the 90’s, at least on the construction end of things, working for clients like Intel, IBM-Hitachi, Advanced Micro Devices, Applied Materials, etc. and watched that market dwindle as technology moved abroad for cheaper labor.”
While our strength may be R&D our backbone is manufacturing. I worked for Intel for 17 years. Their R&D is second to none the real secret to their success was their manufacturing capability. You can have all of the technology in the world but you won’t be successful if you can’t manufacture it in the quantities needed, at a reasonable cost and good quality. AMD has technology but could never rival the manufacturing power of Intel. That is why Intel dominates the market today. We shipped our manufacturing capability overseas long before Obama came to office.
I am working for a Spanish train company. We have been able to sell trains to Wisconsin and Oregon due to stimulus dollars. I am currently searching for US based manufacturing companies to supply materials/manufacturing for the trains. Buy America and ARRA provisions mandate that US manufacturing be used for these trains. We are also opening a manufacturing facility in Wisconsin. I talk to a lot of manufacturing companies that are hurting because the US sent all of the manufacturing jobs overseas. We have a wealth of manufacturing capability in this country that is not being used. I see it first hand. If we want to shore up this countries economy we better start manufacturing in this country again.
Black in America Baby…the revolution has been televised
March 22nd, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Yes, R&D is an economic driver. I hold 17 US and international patents in initiating explosives that made quite a bit of cash for my employers; but like many, probably most, researchers, I was not driven by money
(other than to plow into chemical analytical instrumentation), but rather the satisfaction of contributing to the knowledge pool and recognition by my peers. Private sector R & D funding is down considerably, as shareholders trump employees and customers. But our universities are still out on the cutting edge (look at all the foreign students flocking to our university science programs).
But that is all frosting…the cake was the steel mills,
the family farms, the machine shops, … back when things were ‘Made In America’ And they are going, going… (is Ka-Ching a Chinese word?)
March 26th, 2010 at 6:41 am
Nice non sequitur.
I fully agree. It pisses me off to see good jobs leave our shores, but as a businessman, I understand. I don’t agree, but I understand.