Lazycoder

No rebuttal to Citizen Microsoft

IDEAlog.us – Follow up to Citizen Microsoft

Interesting that I haven’t seen any rebuttals or comments from any Microsoft employees regarding the “Citizen Microsoft” article in last weeks Seattle Weekly. I was sure someone would jump at the chance to defend Microsoft or maybe investigate and post a rebuttal.

As a new citizen of Seattle, and someone who fell off the turnip truck years ago, I understand that all businesses do whatever they can to pay fewer taxes. The way that Boeing recently tried to get larger tax breaks for staying in Seattle didn’t set well with me. I do think that businesses owe something to the local community. They may not have any legal responsibilities or there may be ways of circumventing their legal responsibilities, but they should be responsible to not only their shareholders, but to their employees. When Microsoft gets out of paying taxes, local schools receive less funding, there’s less money for street repair, etc… Who does that affect the most, the people. Including the 55,000+ emplyees of Microsoft.

Maybe instead of giving away a billion to charity. Bill could give away $945 million and pay the people of Washington state the $55 million he owes us?

When I speak of Microsoft having turned into an evil corporation, I’m not talking about integrating the browser with the operating system. I’m talking about crap like this.