Posted on 05/09/2006 8:19:28 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Internet giant Google's stock has soared since it went public almost two years ago -- and that has created a windfall for state government coffers.
California took in a record $11.3 billion in personal income tax receipts in April, $4.3 billion more than it collected last April. It's almost certain that a significant chunk of April's haul came from Google employees -- perhaps one-eighth or more of the tax receipt gain.
The fact that a single high-flying Silicon Valley company is giving such a big boost to the state treasury can be determined by examining insider stock trading information filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Fourteen of Google's top executives and directors sold $4.4 billion worth of stock last year, according to Thomson Financial. That includes founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, each of whom sold about $1.3 billion worth of stock.
Assuming the 14 insiders had acquired the shares at very low cost and that all were in the top 10.3 percent state-tax bracket, they could have owed the state close to $450 million in capital gains tax on their stock sales.
And it wasn't only the top executives. Many lower-level Google employees also sold stock in their company last year. They don't have to publicly disclose their sales. We don't know how much tax this group paid, but it clearly lifted the state's total take from Google well above the $450 million figure.
It's not clear exactly when the Google insiders paid their tax bills. It's possible they made estimated state-tax payments last year when they sold the stock. In that case, their tax payments would not be included in April's state-tax haul.
But it's much more likely that they paid all or some of their capital gains tax in April ...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Who needs a Golden Goo$e when you have a Golden Google?
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