>Microsoft will avoid having to pay a 35 percent tax rate to repatriate cash from overseas accounts. While it’s true that Microsoft has more than $100 billion in cash and cash equivalents, most of it is parked offshore. Bringing home any of it to fund the proposed $26.2 billion purchase, announced on Monday, would generate a tax bill.

Of course if an individual or small business tried that, They would be in jail.

In general, I think companies are waiting for a tax-holiday on repatriating cash as has happened from time-to-time in the past. It would be interesting if tax laws were amended to allow tax-free repatriation of cash for the purpose of buying US-based companies. The US would lose out on collecting of the tax revenue (not that it's getting that revenue now), but it would allow a path to repatriate the cash in an instance when the cash injection might be inherently put back into circulation because of use in the transaction.