The IRS failed Thursday to block a Facebook economics expert from testifying in its multibillion-dollar tax trial after arguing he violated a tax court evidentiary rule by not disclosing some published opinions including his economic analysis claiming contraception and abortions harm women by destroying the institution of marriage.
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology visiting scholar testifying as the IRS' digital platform expert in a multibillion-dollar trial over Facebook's tax bill said Thursday that by 2010, the social media platform's user base had "exploded" past 100 million users and few users were leaving, rocketing Facebook's user base past competitors.
A Rice University finance professor testified in a multibillion-dollar tax trial over Facebook's 2010 tax bill that Facebook's valuation that year was less than $29 billion over $6 billion below the IRS expert's estimates due in part to significant risks Facebook faced going public.