Submission + - 10% Tax on Custom Software, $100M Tax Cut for MSFT (techflash.com)
reifman writes: Last week, the Washington State House of Representatives passed a bill which would impose a 10% tax on custom software while all but eliminating a $100 million yearly tax obligation that some say Microsoft is wrongfully avoiding by routing large chunks of business through an office in Nevada. "I believe weve got an issue of justice and fairness here," said Rep. Maralyn Chase. "Most of the custom software purveyors are small businesses. It(TM)s a question for me of how we fairly distribute the tax burden." "It means that a 5 person team of entrepreneurs building a cool custom software suite, or a group of system integrators, would face a 10% tax on their services while keeping the exact same project in-house would not be taxed," wrote Rep. Reuven Carlyle. "It would be a massive blow to the entrepreneurial community in our state." The bill won't become law until the house and senate work out how best to raise another $300 million in taxes. A sales tax increase on consumers is also being considered.
