Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has threatened to
move US jobs offshore if president Obama's proposal to impose
higher taxes on US companies' foreign profits is voted in.
In an interview with
Bloomberg, Ballmer said the tax would make US jobs more
expensive. "We are better off taking lots of people and moving them
out of the US, as opposed to keeping them inside the US," he
said.
Obama plans to reform US tax laws which allow businesses to
avoid paying US taxes on their foreign investments. A paper on
Barack Obama's website states that the president aims to level the
playing field for all businesses by eliminating special interest
loopholes and deductions, such as those for the oil and gas
industry, as well as by limiting the ability of large multinational
corporations to use tax havens to hide income overseas.
Obama's proposals could affect US IT suppliers that run global
businesses.
Ballmer told Bloomberg that while the Obama proposals would
preserve expense deductions related to research and experimentation
costs, the overall deduction limits for companies that defer tax on
foreign profits would raise the cost of employing US workers. He
said it would force Microsoft to lower its costs by moving jobs out
of the US.