As we begin the second month of Soak the Rich, we start with another fun soakee: Microsoft! Bill Gates is a generous guy, so I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if his corporation’s taxes were doubled and his CEO’s pay whisked away for Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama to dole out.
Now Soaking: Microsoft
- Reuters lists Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer’s compensation as $1,351,120. Ballmer has been with Microsoft since 1980, so he’s got enough money. That was easy: here’s $1,351,120 more for Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama to spend better than some private-industry fat-cat ever could!
- Microsoft’s 2010 income statement lists $6,253,000,000 in corporate income taxes. Let’s double that amount for more economic stimulus, Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama style!
- All said and done, doubling Microsoft’s corporate income tax and taking their CEO’s pay will reduce the 2011 U.S. budget deficit from $1,620,000,000,000 to $1,613,745,648,880.
Rest assured that – same as when we soaked Apple – this tax hike won’t increase the price of personal computer software, hardware, or services! Doubling Microsoft’s corporate income tax also won’t increase operating costs for Microsoft’s hundreds of thousands of business customers. Although a “free market” is really nothing but an evil cabal of fat-cats cheating helpless saps out of money, Sherrod Brown’s the sheriff in these parts! Supply, demand, risk, cost, and reward are merely shadows from the dark old days.
Furthermore, none of Microsoft’s 89,000 employees will lose their jobs if Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama raise corporate taxes to the moon. The only funds and individuals holding any of Microsoft’s 8.43 billion outstanding shares of stock who suffer will be the ones who deserve to.
We, The People who support Sherrod Brown’s fiscal policies, hold these leftist conceits to be self-evident.