3 ms·

I don't know much about corporate taxes, but isn't a charity donation the same tax write-off as a Christmas gift to employees, if they cost the same? And is ei

by euyyn 10y ago

I don't know much about corporate taxes, but isn't a charity donation the same tax write-off as a Christmas gift to employees, if they cost the same? And is either of those different than the write-off for business-related costs? In other words, do corporate taxes look at more than "total revenue - total costs"?

ocdtrekkie 10y ago
I also don't know too much about corporate taxes, but I'm pretty sure there's some benefits to giving to actual charities that goes beyond a regular business expense. "Total revenue - total costs" is the sort of tax a business can pay if their revenue is small and simple. Once you get into itemized taxes, there's all sorts of tax credits and such. As an additional note, all the schools Google have these Google-tied products to will be bound to Google's service products, so, it benefits them in that way as well.
- euyyn 10y ago
  > all the schools Google have these Google-tied products to will be bound to Google's service products, so, it benefits them in that way as well. I mean, yeah obviously. But I wouldn't really expect Google to give MacBooks or Windows notebooks to those schools, and it probably would be a worse option even if they did.
  - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
    As someone living with a student plagued by a school-issued Chromebook, I beg to differ. Especially for a student that could run AutoCAD and similar useful software even on a very cheap Windows PC. The point is, it's really not a "gift". They gave themselves a tax break, by "donating" some hardware that ensures them future business via services. It takes some hardcore groupthink to be convinced that it's otherwise.
    - euyyn 10y ago
      > It's really not a "gift". > It takes some hardcore groupthink to be convinced that it's otherwise. lol so you'd rather your school not be able to afford issuing your kid any laptop whatsoever? Do the teachers at your school want the kids to use AutoCAD, but someone forced them to buy Chromebooks? More than half the schools are voting for this with their money already http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/03/googles-chromebooks-make-up-half-of-us-classroom-devices.html http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/03/googles-chromebooks-make-up-h... If your Google conspiracy is true, why is the company so cunning, but at the same time dumb enough not to extend the gift to all schools?
      - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
        It's actually funny you mentioned the CNBC article as a source: It's junk. They made one correction a year ago when I pointed out all the flaws in it, and the article is still misleading. ;) Futuresource intentionally cherry-picked data, basically by excluding... well, most of the PCs schools buy categorically. The biggest problem is the lock-in. Given that Google has them in on all of their hardware, mail, docs, classroom platform, once you decide to go the cheap route, because $200 laptops sound like a good idea, it's really hard to escape. You guys are basically the 90s Microsoft of the 10s.
    - greygray 10y ago
      >The point is, it's really not a "gift". They gave themselves a tax break, by "donating" some hardware that ensures them future business via services. It takes some hardcore groupthink to be convinced that it's otherwise. Corporations are taxed on profit not revenue. A charity gift is treated as an expense, just as a holiday gift is or company issued laptops or shuttle rides or free food. Source: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-does-corporate-income-tax-work http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-does-corpor... You should probably do some research before you comment :\.

by euyyn 10y ago

ocdtrekkie 10y ago

I also don't know too much about corporate taxes, but I'm pretty sure there's some benefits to giving to actual charities that goes beyond a regular business expense. "Total revenue - total costs" is the sort of tax a business can pay if their revenue is small and simple. Once you get into itemized taxes, there's all sorts of tax credits and such. As an additional note, all the schools Google have these Google-tied products to will be bound to Google's service products, so, it benefits them in that way as well.

euyyn 10y ago
> all the schools Google have these Google-tied products to will be bound to Google's service products, so, it benefits them in that way as well. I mean, yeah obviously. But I wouldn't really expect Google to give MacBooks or Windows notebooks to those schools, and it probably would be a worse option even if they did.
- ocdtrekkie 10y ago
  As someone living with a student plagued by a school-issued Chromebook, I beg to differ. Especially for a student that could run AutoCAD and similar useful software even on a very cheap Windows PC. The point is, it's really not a "gift". They gave themselves a tax break, by "donating" some hardware that ensures them future business via services. It takes some hardcore groupthink to be convinced that it's otherwise.
  - euyyn 10y ago
    > It's really not a "gift". > It takes some hardcore groupthink to be convinced that it's otherwise. lol so you'd rather your school not be able to afford issuing your kid any laptop whatsoever? Do the teachers at your school want the kids to use AutoCAD, but someone forced them to buy Chromebooks? More than half the schools are voting for this with their money already http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/03/googles-chromebooks-make-up-half-of-us-classroom-devices.html http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/03/googles-chromebooks-make-up-h... If your Google conspiracy is true, why is the company so cunning, but at the same time dumb enough not to extend the gift to all schools?
    - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
      It's actually funny you mentioned the CNBC article as a source: It's junk. They made one correction a year ago when I pointed out all the flaws in it, and the article is still misleading. ;) Futuresource intentionally cherry-picked data, basically by excluding... well, most of the PCs schools buy categorically. The biggest problem is the lock-in. Given that Google has them in on all of their hardware, mail, docs, classroom platform, once you decide to go the cheap route, because $200 laptops sound like a good idea, it's really hard to escape. You guys are basically the 90s Microsoft of the 10s.
  - greygray 10y ago
    >The point is, it's really not a "gift". They gave themselves a tax break, by "donating" some hardware that ensures them future business via services. It takes some hardcore groupthink to be convinced that it's otherwise. Corporations are taxed on profit not revenue. A charity gift is treated as an expense, just as a holiday gift is or company issued laptops or shuttle rides or free food. Source: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-does-corporate-income-tax-work http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-does-corpor... You should probably do some research before you comment :\.