Open Source Tax Credit

Submitted by scott on March 17, 2006 - 13:16.

The Center for American Progress has a proposal for granting individuals a tax credit for work done on open source projects, up to "20 percent of [. . .] out-of-pocket costs." Corporations and self-employed folks can already write off their expenses, but this proposal would allow the "hobbyist" to do the same. While the proposal does talk a bit about the cultural and social benefits of open source, the manin trust is on the economic benefits of open source.

[It] enhances the development and dissemination of knowledge and ideas more broadly. Since the benefits to the broader software development community and the economy as a whole go well beyond the users of an individual software product, a policy that subsidizes open source development would increase economic efficiency.

Now, the Center for American Progress is pretty left-leaning so I don't think that there will be a rush of U.S. politicans supporting this kind of tax credit, but it is one more sign that open sourc (and maybe even open content) is starting to appear on more radar screens.

tags:  

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
cel4145's picture

would be nice

Submitted by cel4145 on March 18, 2006 - 14:02.

Sure would be nice, especially if they included developing open content. Maybe one day :)

well...

Submitted by scott on March 18, 2006 - 17:28.

Rome wasn't built in a day. One step at a time.

platypus matt's picture

Counters OS Philosophy?

Submitted by platypus matt on March 19, 2006 - 11:58.

I'm not sure I like this idea. If FOSS is about giving back to society, then would a true FOSS advocate try to get out of paying taxes? After all, what do taxes support? I don't think is a fruitful route for FOSS.

cel4145's picture

Not FOSS

Submitted by cel4145 on March 19, 2006 - 12:23.

Neither the FSF definition of free software nor OSI's of open source include any reference to "giving back to society." The former is about an individual's rights concerning software, and the latter about the benefits of sharing software for producing better software. Besides, I would think most FOSS advocates would be excited about any incentive which would encourage more people to work on FOSS.

platypus matt's picture

Encourage People

Submitted by platypus matt on March 19, 2006 - 12:54.

But would it encourage the right kind of people?

cel4145's picture

not exclusive of any kind of people

Submitted by cel4145 on March 19, 2006 - 13:17.
Neither the FS and OSI definitions are exclusive of any kind of people, and I'm not sure what the wrong kind of people are. There's a lot of anti-commercial sentiment bandied about at times when it comes to FS; yet, most of the FOSS commercial developers I know are FS believers. Besides, a tax break would allow for diehard FSF and OSI advocates (I'm guessing these are the right kind of people in your mind) to devote more of their time to FOSS development.
platypus matt's picture

Lawyers

Submitted by platypus matt on March 19, 2006 - 21:55.

My guess is the kind of people this kind of legislation would attract would be (a) lawyers and (b) more lawyers. Let's see how hard lawyers can look at FOSS licenses once there is big money involved. Let's see how many ways Microsoft can warp the legislation so that their own efforts are subsidized.

Frankly, I think this whole affair misguided, but it's not that important, because such a thing hasn't the faintest possibility of ever becoming a reality anyway.

MSFT

Submitted by scott on March 22, 2006 - 20:37.

can already claim a tax credit for software development. It's a business expense--I think. I'm not a tax person, but R&D already gets a company a tax credit.