Obama’s Tax Plan Draws Stiff Opposition

In a story earlier this month from Bloomberg News, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer came out strongly opposed to a new corporate tax plan President Obama proposed.  

For many leading American firms who do business overseas, Obama’s plan to eliminate the deferral of taxes on foreign profits could increase costs and cut into profits by as much as 10 to 15 percentage points.  Bloomberg reported:

…Ballmer, Symantec Chairman John Thompson and the heads of smaller companies such as privately held Bentley Systems, an Exton, Pa.-based maker of engineering software, said such policies would hurt domestic investment, reduce shareholder value and increase the cost of employing U.S. workers.

Ballmer said the deduction limits for companies that defer tax on foreign profits would raise the cost of employing U.S. workers. Fiduciary responsibility to shareholders would require Microsoft to cut costs, he said, meaning many jobs would be moved out of the country.

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