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"Donating" his shares to his own charity that he fully controls and his children will inherit. It's little more than a smart tax shelter.

orionblastar 10y ago
It is something that rich people do to show they are a philanthropist by selling shares of their company or donating them to the charity or organization they control and their children will inherit. It goes way back over the years to the Rockefeller family and others. Not only is it a tax shelter, they can control what the charity or whatever does. It is a good way to avoid paying a capital gains tax by donating shares to their own charity or organization. A pity the taxes on the shares could have been collected by the federal government and used to pay off our national debt or create some good paying jobs. People who aren't billionaires have to pay a capital gains tax if they sell shares that have a value more than the original investment.
- praneshp 10y ago
  Not the biggest fan of Zuckerberg's philanthropy, but your government wouldn't have paid off its national debt or done much good with the taxes he'd have paid. One example (from New Jersey, maybe not directly applicable at the Federal level): https://www.google.com/search?q=mark+zuckerberg+100+million+new+jersey&gws_rd=ssl https://www.google.com/search?q=mark+zuckerberg+100+million+...
  - orionblastar 10y ago
    I meant all the billionares do this to avoid paying taxes. I assume they are the 1% that own half the wealth.
onewaystreet 10y ago
You haven't been paying attention to Mark Zuckerberg's past philanthropic initiatives if you think that this is just a tax scheme. He wants to have an impact on the world.
- celticninja 10y ago
  I'm sure he does but that doesn't mean he is not setting up a tax shelter for his children and himself. If you think otherwise then you may have sipped a little too much kool aid.
  - onewaystreet 10y ago
    > If you think otherwise then you may have sipped a little too much kool aid. I know a few critics of Mark Zuckerberg who would be very happy if all he did was sit on his money. They fear what he will do, not if.
    - celticninja 10y ago
      Fear what? I would see him as more Bill Gates than Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
      - onewaystreet 10y ago
        The second half of this piece states the fear pretty well: https://medium.com/@anildash/how-to-look-at-the-chan-zuckerberg-initiative-f357e5dd8c63 https://medium.com/@anildash/how-to-look-at-the-chan-zuckerb...
      - duaneb 10y ago
        I fear that he will waste his money e.g. providing facebook to the world out of "charity". Gee thanks!
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- chimeracoder 10y ago
  > He wants to have an impact on the world. Every founder of a billion-dollar company wants to have an impact on the world. The question is whether the impact he wants to have is something that needs (or deserves) preferential tax treatment, as well as the massive public praise he received for this act of 'philanthropy'. It is true that the wealthy commonly use foundations that they control in order to advance initiatives that also financially benefit themselves or for-profit companies they own. In itself, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's almost definitionally true that Zuckerberg is using the foundation structure for the tax benefits.
jexe 10y ago
I'm sort of surprised by the level of cynicism the HN crowd has. Call me naive, I'd like to believe that he's trying to do something good with his money without letting shareholders steer FB into a typical wall street short-term balance sheet game. Reminds me of https://medium.com/conquering-corporate-america/mark-zuckerberg-gives-up-family-home-job-facebook-users-remain-unimpressed-7c086bac3ae7#.ow37gmb9f https://medium.com/conquering-corporate-america/mark-zuckerb...
- what_ever 10y ago
  I think HN is VERY cynical and negative. The first reaction everyone has here is doubt and question. I mean it's good to doubt and question but that shouldn't be the only outcome you should have towards each and everything. Another example is there were threads for GOOG and AAPL missing their Q1 targets but I don't see one for FB for crushing their earnings. Or may be there is one but it's not upvoted that well which just proves the point even more. This is one of the things which is driving me away from HN. But I would be missing out on lot of technical and industry knowledge if I stop reading HN.

orionblastar 10y ago

It is something that rich people do to show they are a philanthropist by selling shares of their company or donating them to the charity or organization they control and their children will inherit. It goes way back over the years to the Rockefeller family and others. Not only is it a tax shelter, they can control what the charity or whatever does. It is a good way to avoid paying a capital gains tax by donating shares to their own charity or organization. A pity the taxes on the shares could have been collected by the federal government and used to pay off our national debt or create some good paying jobs. People who aren't billionaires have to pay a capital gains tax if they sell shares that have a value more than the original investment.

praneshp 10y ago
Not the biggest fan of Zuckerberg's philanthropy, but your government wouldn't have paid off its national debt or done much good with the taxes he'd have paid. One example (from New Jersey, maybe not directly applicable at the Federal level): https://www.google.com/search?q=mark+zuckerberg+100+million+new+jersey&gws_rd=ssl https://www.google.com/search?q=mark+zuckerberg+100+million+...
- orionblastar 10y ago
  I meant all the billionares do this to avoid paying taxes. I assume they are the 1% that own half the wealth.

onewaystreet 10y ago

You haven't been paying attention to Mark Zuckerberg's past philanthropic initiatives if you think that this is just a tax scheme. He wants to have an impact on the world.

celticninja 10y ago
I'm sure he does but that doesn't mean he is not setting up a tax shelter for his children and himself. If you think otherwise then you may have sipped a little too much kool aid.
- onewaystreet 10y ago
  > If you think otherwise then you may have sipped a little too much kool aid. I know a few critics of Mark Zuckerberg who would be very happy if all he did was sit on his money. They fear what he will do, not if.
  - celticninja 10y ago
    Fear what? I would see him as more Bill Gates than Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
    - onewaystreet 10y ago
      The second half of this piece states the fear pretty well: https://medium.com/@anildash/how-to-look-at-the-chan-zuckerberg-initiative-f357e5dd8c63 https://medium.com/@anildash/how-to-look-at-the-chan-zuckerb...
    - duaneb 10y ago
      I fear that he will waste his money e.g. providing facebook to the world out of "charity". Gee thanks!
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
chimeracoder 10y ago
> He wants to have an impact on the world. Every founder of a billion-dollar company wants to have an impact on the world. The question is whether the impact he wants to have is something that needs (or deserves) preferential tax treatment, as well as the massive public praise he received for this act of 'philanthropy'. It is true that the wealthy commonly use foundations that they control in order to advance initiatives that also financially benefit themselves or for-profit companies they own. In itself, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's almost definitionally true that Zuckerberg is using the foundation structure for the tax benefits.

jexe 10y ago

I'm sort of surprised by the level of cynicism the HN crowd has. Call me naive, I'd like to believe that he's trying to do something good with his money without letting shareholders steer FB into a typical wall street short-term balance sheet game. Reminds me of https://medium.com/conquering-corporate-america/mark-zuckerberg-gives-up-family-home-job-facebook-users-remain-unimpressed-7c086bac3ae7#.ow37gmb9f https://medium.com/conquering-corporate-america/mark-zuckerb...

what_ever 10y ago
I think HN is VERY cynical and negative. The first reaction everyone has here is doubt and question. I mean it's good to doubt and question but that shouldn't be the only outcome you should have towards each and everything. Another example is there were threads for GOOG and AAPL missing their Q1 targets but I don't see one for FB for crushing their earnings. Or may be there is one but it's not upvoted that well which just proves the point even more. This is one of the things which is driving me away from HN. But I would be missing out on lot of technical and industry knowledge if I stop reading HN.