Boeing has over 77,000 employees in Washington state, and Microsoft has over 40,000 employees there. It's hard to imagine that the state does not already benef

Boeing has over 77,000 employees in Washington state, and Microsoft has over 40,000 employees there. It's hard to imagine that the state does not already benefit so enormously from the presence of these two giants that a few hundred million is literally a drop in the bucket. Washington state doesn't have a corporate or personal income tax, but they do have something called "Business and Occupation Tax", a tax on gross receipts which all corporations must pay, regardless of profit. There are all sorts of exemptions and exceptions, and of course MSFT and Boeing have their share. However, MSFT last year was singled out for the closing of a loophole to the tune of $57 million; they weren't named specifically but the law was directed at "software businesses with greater than 40,000 employees", an unusual maneuver to get more taxes from a specific company. The blogger complains about a few hundred million and then goes on to fantasize about how this extra money could pay for all sorts of wonderful services in the state. The fact is, however, in the real world, that chunk of tax revenue does not exist; you have to work with what you have, and in this case, Washington has to work within their $37 billion budget. Also worth noting is the unfortunate fact that public funds do not efficiently flow to an earmarked pool of deserving causes; much of it is sucked up by the bureaucracy, a certain amount stolen through graft and embezzlement and dirty contractors, a certain amount wasted, a certain amount subtly reassigned to other needs. $57 million designated for schools in underprivileged areas makes a great sound bite, but at the end of the day the deserving schools will see very little of that money.