content: The US government paid Microsoft a premium to win the bid to acquire Skype, using our own tax dollars to pay a private corporation to allow them to more easily violate the constitution and spy on the private communications of its citizens.  Not only that, the move was widely considered to be motivated by Tax avoidance.  http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/05/11/dealpolitik-lesson-from-microsoftskype-congress-must-fix-corporate-tax-law/ You know how corps keep cash stockpiles out of the US to avoid repatriation taxes?  MS used their foreign holdings to buy this foreign company and avoid the 35% tax that would be assessed if they brought the money back to the US. Personally I don't think that tax (or really any other) should exist, precisely because it encourages keeping money out of the domestic economy.