{"id":10338,"date":"2011-06-07T06:49:06","date_gmt":"2011-06-07T05:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=10338"},"modified":"2011-06-07T06:49:06","modified_gmt":"2011-06-07T05:49:06","slug":"how-much-of-bill-gates-philanthropy-is-supported-by-microsofts-tax-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2011\/06\/07\/how-much-of-bill-gates-philanthropy-is-supported-by-microsofts-tax-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"How much of Bill Gates’ philanthropy is supported by Microsoft’s tax planning?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Gates likes to be thought of as a great philanthropist. He's referred to as such, so I guess he's happy about it.\u00a0And in some senses he is<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But remember he gets tax\u00a0relief\u00a0as a result.<\/p>\n

Remember something else too: the value of Microsoft has undoubtedly been inflated by its tax planning<\/a>. Low taxes equals higher value is a golden rule of the stock market: it's the motive for tax avoidance.<\/p>\n

So ask a question: how much of Gates' philanthropy has been paid for by the US Exchequer? Quite a lot, I suspect. It's still\u00a0philanthropy, but not quite as it first looks.<\/p>\n

And does philanthropy subsidised by the Exchequer really give a right to try to direct how state funding is spent, as so many\u00a0philanthropists\u00a0of this sort seem to think? I question that.<\/p>\n

I'd go further: I'd rather less philanthropy, less hype, less high profile giving to publicity laden causes and rather more tax paid to ensure that the\u00a0government\u00a0in each country in which a\u00a0multinational corporation trades has the tax due to it to ensure it can supply the public services the people in that country deserve. <\/span><\/p>\n

That's a judgement: Gates is allowed to act as he does.<\/p>\n

But I question whether it's all quite such a good cause as some would claim, or even as generous as it might seem. There's too much tax distortion in it all for me to feel\u00a0comfortable\u00a0with any such suggestion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Gates likes to be thought of as a great philanthropist. He’s referred to as such, so I guess he’s happy about it.\u00a0And in some
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