Marc Zuckerberg and his wife allegedly will donate 99% of "their" fortune to unnamed parties.
But is this really a "charitable" or "philanthropic" gesture? Perhaps not:
Yet there is a dark side to this trend. For behind it lies the sanctimonious hypocrisy of billionaires who build vast fortunes with firms that avoid the taxes paid by the rest of society, then arrogantly think they are best placed to solve the planet’s problems.
Zuckerberg talked in his letter of creating stronger communities. Yet Facebook, like too many technology behemoths, is a serial tax avoider undermining government through its stubborn refusal to pay its fair share to society.
Last year, this all-conquering social media firm handed over just £4,327 in corporation tax in this country: less than the annual sum paid in tax by the average worker.
Yet its staff in Britain took home an average £210,000 each in pay and bonuses, safe in the security of a society that relies on public servants to protect them from terror, provide health care in hospitals and repair the roads on which they travel to work.
The Facebook founder has hailed Bill Gates as his hero — the world’s richest man, who has been revered as something close to a secular saint after promising to give away the bulk of his £57 billion fortune.
You can read the rest @
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3343771/The-tax-avoiding-Facebook-mogul-act-charity-reeks-hypocrisy.html
Well, it is "their" money, no matter how they got it. And they can do whatever they want with it.
Personally, I think it should be seized by We The People using a "windfall profits" tax. But that's just me.
No comments:
Post a Comment