Category: Washington State
Seattle Dance Clubs Fundraise to Pay Microsoft’s Tax Bill
In April 2010, Washington State’s Legislature changed the definition of its software royalty tax and effectively granted amnesty to Microsoft, helping the company lock up $1.51 billion in savings from its thirteen-year Nevada tax dodge – and more than $100 million...
Hunter’s Promised Royalty Tax Revenue Never Materialized
But the point of adding only royalty tax apportionment (out of scores of other B&O classifications) to the 2010 services apportionment bill was never meant to generate additional revenue, it was meant to eliminate the issue of Microsoft’s worldwide licensing...
The Third Anniversary of Washington State’s Big Tax Gift to Microsoft
Wednesday will be the third anniversary of the biggest corporate tax break in Washington State history. On April 10, 2010, the Legislature changed the definition of the state’s royalty tax and effectively granted amnesty to Microsoft, helping the company lock...
New York Times Focus on Corporate Tax Incentives, Washington State and Microsoft
In early December, The New York Times published a series on corporate tax incentives across the country. They also provided a state by state reporting view online (here’s the link for Washington State’s corporate tax incentives). Washington state grants $2.35...
Good Activism Breaks Law
Update: The Stranger published a shorter version of this on August 15. Last week, The Stranger called Initiative 103 “an unconstitutional waste of time,” but constitutionality isn’t the right benchmark to measure social change efforts. In 1873, after suffragist Susan...
Initiative 103 Provides Tools Seattle Needs to Protect Our Community
Issue after issue in Seattle pits corporate power and influence peddling against residents and our environment. Initiative 103’s Community Bill of Rights provides the tools residents need to protect and manage what happens in our city. Take a...
Pacific Northwest Emerging as a Stronghold for a New Kind of Activism
There’s a new form of activism gaining strength in the Pacific Northwest. Citizen organizers in three Washington cities are gathering signatures to place initiatives on the November ballot that would limit corporate power and elevate peoples’ rights above corporate rights:...