Like! Facebook avoids most taxes

Feb. 16, 2013

By John Seiler

A year ago, Gov. Jerry Brown and other state officials were salivating like Pavlov’s dog over the $2 billion in new taxes they projected the state treasury would get from Facebook’s Initial Public Offering. Then the IPO tanked and the company lost half its value. So California would get only $1 billion.

Now it turns out Facebook isn’t going to pay any taxes!

“Facebook is reporting a $429 million net tax refund from the federal and state treasuries. And it’s not because they weren’t profitable. Indeed, Mark Zuckerburg’s little company earned nearly $1.1 billion in profits.

“Facebook’s income tax refunds stem from the company’s use of a single tax break, that is the tax deductibility of executive stock options. That tax break reduced Facebook’s federal and state income taxes by $1,033 million in 2012, including refunds of earlier years’ taxes of $451 million.”

This is happening even though Facebook co-founder and multi-billionaire Chris Hughes recently bought  the New Republic magazine, the flagship of liberals. And Hughes, according to former editor Martin Peretz, has turned it into politically correct propaganda rag of Obama worship.

Not that Hughes wants to pay Obama-high taxes. He wants tax breaks just like any billionaire. And billionaires get them because their tax accountants are smarter than IRS functionaries.

So it’s the same old story. Obama and Brown insist taxes must go up on the rich so they “pay their fair share.” The rich, including rich liberals, figure out tax loopholes. An the middle-class ends up getting hit to pay the bill for all the government waste.