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| Author | Content |
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| henke54 Dec 11, 2005 9:56 AM EDT |
link from ffii.org from date 2004 -->
"The Irish Presidency explains on its website that it is sponsored by Microsoft. Ireland is "the largest software-exporting country in Europe", thanks to a fiscal policy which makes it a tax haven for large US companies: it has a tax rate on patent revenues of 0%."
http://swpat.ffii.org/journal/04/cons0507/index.en.html#boog... Nov 21, 2005 "Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal wrote that "a law firm's office on a quiet downtown street [in Dublin, Ireland ] houses an obscure subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. that helps the computer giant shave at least $500 million from its annual tax bill. The four-year-old subsidiary, Round Island One Ltd., has a thin roster of employees but controls more than $16 billion in Microsoft assets. Virtually unknown in Ireland, on paper it has quickly become one of the country's biggest companies, with gross profits of nearly $9 billion in 2004." Ireland's low corporate tax rate of 12.5% on trading profits has been a magnet for multinational companies who are responsible for 90% of Irish exports and a significant contributor to the success of the modern Irish economy, commonly known as the Celtic Tiger." http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_... |
| hkwint Dec 11, 2005 1:33 PM EDT |
They found a country with even lower taxes I believe. It's a real shame. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=... Quoting:As Luxembourg has the lowest level of VAT of the 25 EU members, it is the logical choice for companies to set up in Europe. Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner's America Online unit recently announced plans to run their European operations from Luxembourg. Anyone remember Jüncker (Luxembourgs president) trying to push through software patents in the EU? What a coincidence, eh? |
| salparadise Dec 11, 2005 10:01 PM EDT |
No conincidences.
Just a concerted effort to get Europe sown up. What's worrying is that they're on the umpteenth attempt to get Europe to accidentally pass laws that make Microsoft more or less unassailable in Europe. The worrying bit is that they only need to succeed once. |
| dinotrac Dec 12, 2005 4:02 AM EDT |
I wonder who you blame here, if anyone? It's hard to blame countries who are trying to kick-start their economies by creating an attraction for business. Much as we might not like it, it's hard to blame businesses taking legal means to reduce their taxes, especially publicly-traded corporations with obligations to shareholders. |
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