Tech talk, cold comfort.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/24 ... s_lawsuit/

In documents [PDF] filed with the US District Court of the District of Columbia on Monday, Microsoft alleges that the IRS has failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records related to the agency's contract with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a law firm hired to investigate the software giant.

Here's the PDF:

http://regmedia.co.uk/2014/11/24/01-main.pdf

Plaintiff seeks to compel the disclosure of a complete government contract and related records that were unlawfully withheld by the Internal Revenue Service ("Defendant" or "IRS") arising from its engagement of the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, its partners, and/or its employees (collectively, "Quinn Emanuel") to assist the IRS in preparing, organizing, and presenting the factual record and legal analysis in connection with Defendant's transfer pricing audits of Microsoft under 26 U.S.C. § 482.

I'm curious as to why the IRS is dragging its feet and must give MS some credit for being proactive.

Not a big fan of Forbes, but Keith Fogg raises an important point:

...The issue deserves attention in order to determine if this represents a new and better way to examine complex returns or a capitulation of what was previously considered a governmental function.

They also point to another site for the complaint and some exhibits:

http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/wp-co ... Signed.pdf

http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/wp-co ... equest.pdf

http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/wp-co ... uest-2.pdf

http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/wp-co ... uest-3.pdf

http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/wp-co ... st-3-2.pdf

http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/wp-co ... ervice.pdf

http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/wp-co ... ter-2..pdf

http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/wp-co ... velope.pdf

They are fighting the beast. A losing battle.

This demonstrates something bigger too. It shows how disjointed the U.S. government (including all the entities that make it up) is. All these laws that have allowed these companies to avoid paying taxes being passed all the deregulation and what-not and then the pittance collected off the backs of the working poor used to hire a private firm to attempt to get some of it back. Yeah, makes perfect fucking sense. I swear to God, the U.S.A is making communism look better and better.

That blurring of the lines between government and private industry that I've brought up before just keeps going a little further day-by-day. Heck, it wasn't that long ago that MS was permitted to act like law enforcement with No-Ip. I'm sure that there were all kinds of stipulations on Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan acting on behalf of the IRS, but still the very idea of a private law firm digging through anyone's records on behalf of the government should definitely cause some concern.

Thank you for giving me some food for thought.

Historian Gaetano Salvemini argued in 1936 that fascism makes taxpayers responsible to private enterprise, because "the State pays for the blunders of private enterprise... Profit is private and individual. Loss is public and social."

I will have to do a little more reading of Mr. Salvemini's writing(s).