GOP TAX SCAM TOOLKIT ON TAX DAY 2018
Instead of providing relief for hard-working Americans, the tax scam ultimately raises taxes on 86 million middle class families, gives 83 percent of the tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest one percent, explodes the deficit by nearly $2 trillion and ransacks the future of seniors and veterans by attacking Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Meanwhile, according to a CNBC poll, more than half of working Americans – 52 percent – say they've seen no change in their withholding taxes.
Below are resources and articles spotlighting key concerns with the GOP Tax Scam including: layoffs, massive stock buybacks for wealthy shareholders, minimal benefits for minimum wage workers, tax windfalls for pharmaceutical companies still hiking drug prices on seniors and families, Wall Street's massive tax giveaways, and the enormous deficit increase from the tax scam.
AFTER POCKETING MASSIVE WINDFALLS FROM GOP TAX SCAM, COMPANIES ARE STILL LAYING OFF THOUSANDS OF WORKERS
| CORPORATION | PROFITS UNDER #GOPTAXSCAM | LAYOFFS |
| Kimberly-Clark | "The company said it would use savings from the new Republican tax plan to fund the layoffs and restructuring…" | 5,500 |
| Macy's | "[Macy's] currently estimates the deferred tax impact of the federal tax corporate rate reduction will result in a non-cash tax benefit of approximately $550 million to $650 million." | 10,000 |
| Walmart | "…based on the company's average annual United States earnings over the past five years, he said, savings from the cut in the corporate tax rate alone could be roughly $2.2 billion a year, or 40 percent." | 7,500 |
| AT&T | "AT&T Inc. booked a $20 billion paper gain from a federal tax overhaul that will hand it about $3 billion in extra cash this year…" | More than 4,000 |
| Comcast | "Cable giant Comcast Corp… posted a big one-time non-cash gain of $12.7 billion on the Trump tax overhaul that slashed corporate tax rates…" | 500 |
| Sears | "[Sears] said Thursday that it expects a profit for the fourth quarter of between $140 million and $240 million. That's because it will get an on-paper gain of between $445 million and $495 million, due to a change in the tax law last year." | 220 |
| Tyson Foods | "The company forecast more than $300 million in savings in fiscal 2018 related to the overhaul of U.S. tax laws…" | 590 |
| Pfizer | "In addition to the future tax benefits, Pfizer also reaped immediate rewards. The company said its ‘reported income' in 2017 was $10.7 billion higher because of tax reform." | 300 |
| Proctor & Gamble | "Ultimately, P&G says it will benefit from a lower tax rate that will drop from 28% to 21%. Excluding the one-time impact, the company said the tax cut produced a $135 million windfall for the quarter. | 780 |
| Bank of America | "Bank of America, for example, will likely add about $2.7 billion to its 2018 profits…" | 103 |
| Tenet Health Care Corporation | "[Tenet's] cash tax payments will be approximately $10 million to $20 million lower each year over the next several years, which will be additive to free cash flow." | 700 |
| Wells Fargo | Wells Fargo plans to close about 900 branches as part of efforts to cut costs in the wake of its mis-selling scandal even though the bank's profits received an immediate $3.4bn boost from the US corporate tax cut. | Closing 900 branches |
INSTEAD OF CREATING JOBS AND RAISING WAGES (AS REPUBLICANS PROMISED), CORPORATE EXECUTIVES ARE ENRICHNG THEMSELVES WITH STOCK BUYBACKS
New York Times: Well-Heeled Investors Reap the Republican Tax Cut Bonanza
Morgan Stanley analysts estimated that 43 percent of corporate tax savings would go to buybacks and dividends and nearly 19 percent would help pay for mergers and acquisitions. Just 17 percent would be used for capital investment, and even a smaller share, 13 percent, would go toward bonuses and raises. Other Wall Street analysts have issued similar reports.
New York Times: Trump's Tax Cuts in Hand, Companies Spend More on Themselves Than on Wage
So far, companies are using much of the money for something with a more narrow benefit: buying their own shares … Those so-called buybacks are good for shareholders, including the senior executives who tend to be big owners of their companies' stock.
USA Today: Tax cut savings flow to company stockholders, trickle to hourly workers
But the number of companies letting workers know they are getting a bonus, raise or other form of financial compensation has slowed to a trickle. Most of the extra cash from tax savings is going into the pockets of stock shareholders through dividend increases and companies buying back their own stock in hopes of boosting its price.
A Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysis found that fewer than 45 of the 500 big companies that make up the broad Standard & Poor's 500 stock index have paid out cash bonuses to their workers in the four months since the new tax law took effect.
The amount of money benefiting shareholders has been sizable. In the first three months of 2018, for example, investors received $109.2 billion in dividends, up more than 8% from the $100.9 billion received in the same period a year earlier, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. In fact, the S&P 500's quarterly dividend payments set a new record.
Vox: Corporate stock buybacks are booming, thanks to the Republican tax cut
Right after Republicans in Congress passed their tax bill, lowering tax rates on corporations, companies delivered a very public thank-you: a series of bonus and investment announcements. It was a major PR opportunity for both corporate America and the GOP, meant to show that American businesses were sharing their billions of dollars in tax cut savings with their workers and the broader economy. But over the next few months, the real winners from the corporate tax cut became clear — not workers and consumers, but shareholders
WMNF: In the Wake of the GOP Tax Bill Workers Face Layoffs and Smaller Bonuses
If you look from corporation to corporation, the dollars that are being used to buy back stocks and pay additional dividends absolutely dwarf the amount that is going to bonuses.
USA TODAY Editorial: Corporate America Invites A Backlash
The tax bill was sold as a way to create jobs and boost stagnant wages. So far, at least, corporations have been showing more concern about shareholders than about employees or the economy as a whole. In fact, it is hard to imagine a better strategy for fomenting a backlash and ensuring that the new low rates don't last.
CNBC: Companies Are Putting Tax Savings In The Pockets Of Shareholders
Companies have been feverishly putting the savings they reaped from the tax breaks passed in December into their investors' pockets this year … Share buybacks in 2018 have averaged $4.8 billion a day, double the pace for the same period last year.
CNN Money: Tax cut scoreboard: Workers $6 billion; Shareholders $171 billion
It's raining stock buybacks on Wall Street -- thanks to President Trump's massive corporate tax cuts … shareholders, not workers, are far bigger direct winners from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
WITH THEIR TAX BILL, REPUBLICANS SCAM MINIMUM WAGE WORKERS WITH A TRICKLE-DOWN LIE
| State | Statewide Minimum Wage | Annual Income | GOP Tax Scam Payout in Twice a Month Paycheck |
| Alabama | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Alaska | $9.84 | $20,467.20 | $6.25 |
| Arizona | $10.50 | $21,840.00 | $8.83 |
| Arkansas | $8.50 | $17,680.00 | $5.63 |
| California | $11.00 | $22,880.00 | $10.13 |
| Colorado | $10.20 | $21,216.00 | $7.79 |
| Connecticut | $10.10 | $21,008.00 | $7.38 |
| D.C. | $12.50 | $26,000.00 | $14.00 |
| Delaware | $8.25 | $17,160.00 | $5.63 |
| Florida | $8.25 | $17,160.00 | $5.63 |
| Georgia | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Hawaii | $10.10 | $21,008.00 | $7.38 |
| Idaho | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Illinois | $8.25 | $17,160.00 | $5.63 |
| Indiana | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Iowa | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Kansas | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Kentucky | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Louisiana | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Maine | $10.00 | $20,800.00 | $6.96 |
| Maryland | $9.25 | $19,240.00 | $5.63 |
| Massachusetts | $11.00 | $22,880.00 | $10.13 |
| Michigan | $9.25 | $19,240.00 | $5.63 |
| Minnesota | $9.65 | $20,072.00 | $5.63 |
| Mississippi | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Missouri | $7.85 | $16,328.00 | $5.63 |
| Montana | $8.30 | $17,264.00 | $5.63 |
| Nebraska | $9.00 | $18,720.00 | $5.63 |
| Nevada | $8.25 | $17,160.00 | $5.63 |
| New Hampshire | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| New Jersey | $8.60 | $17,888.00 | $5.63 |
| New Mexico | $7.50 | $15,600.00 | $5.63 |
| New York | $10.40 | $21,634.08 | $8.54 |
| North Carolina | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| North Dakota | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Ohio | $8.30 | $17,264.00 | $5.63 |
| Oklahoma | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Oregon | $10.25 | $21,322.70 | $8.04 |
| Pennsylvania | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Rhode Island | $10.10 | $21,008.00 | $7.38 |
| South Carolina | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| South Dakota | $8.85 | $18,408.00 | $5.63 |
| Tennessee | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Texas | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Utah | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Vermont | $10.50 | $21,840.00 | $8.83 |
| Virginia | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Washington | $11.50 | $23,920.00 | $11.42 |
| West Virginia | $8.75 | $18,200.00 | $5.63 |
| Wisconsin | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
| Wyoming | $7.25 | $15,080.00 | $5.50 |
USA TODAY Opinion: That $4,000 raise Donald Trump and Paul Ryan promised you was a trickle-down lie
In selling you their trickle-down tax plan, President Trump and congressional Republicans promised you a $4,000 pay raise.
Spoiler alert: You're not getting one.
So that $4,000 raise Republicans talked about to sell their tax cuts? It was just a trickle-down lie.
…
Here's the reality: If Trump wanted to give you a raise, he wouldn't rely on trickle-down lies to do it. A mere $2 increase in the minimum wage would give millions of hardworking Americans a $4,000 raise. A modest updating of our overtime regulations would give a $4,000 raise to tens of millions more.
The Hill Op-Ed: Wage growth well short of what was promised from tax reform
The latest Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows weekly employee earnings have grown $75 since tax reform passed, well short of the $4,000 to $9,000 annual increases projected by President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
PHARMA COMPANIES HOARD MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR GOP TAX SCAM PAYOUTS, SPENDING TENS OF BILLIONS ON BUYBACKS TO ENRICH WEALTHY SHAREHOLDERS WHILE CONTINUING TO RAISE DRUG PRICES ON SENIORS AND FAMILIES
Axios: Pharma's $50 billion tax windfall for investors
The pharmaceutical industry is using a large portion of its windfall from Republicans' corporate tax cuts to boost its stock prices. Nine drug companies are spending a combined $50 billion on new share buyback programs, a sum that towers over investments in employees or drug research and development.
The bottom line: All of those buybacks were announced during or after the passage of the Republican tax bill. That money is enriching hedge funds, other Wall Street investors and top drug company executives, but it isn't necessarily helping patients.
Axios: Tax cuts will save health care companies billions — but not patients
Even though a lower corporate tax rate frees up more cash for a health care system that more patients are finding increasingly unaffordable, patients should not expect the health industry's windfall to lead to lower premiums, reduced prices or major industry changes.
…
What we found: 21 companies collectively expect to gain $10 billion in tax savings in 2018 alone. Most of the money is going toward share buybacks, dividends, acquisitions and paying down debt — with just a sliver for one-time employee bonuses, research and internal investments.
…
The big picture: The tax law is "unlikely to lead to significant, long-lasting savings for patients," said Erik Gordon, a health care business professor at the University of Michigan.
WALL STREET: ONE OF GOP TAX SCAM'S BIGGEST BENEFICIARIES
Washington Post: Wall Street is among the GOP tax law's biggest winners, report says
The [Ernst & Young] report says that in the long run, the bill's biggest winners include the finance industry … These kinds of firms particularly benefit from the law's dramatic reduction of the corporate tax rate, which extends beyond the decade.
Wall Street bonuses are climbing toward record highs again, according to government data released Monday showing that in 2017, the average bonus payout reached $184,220.
…
Including bonuses, the average Wall Street salary was $375,200 in 2016, the most recent year available, five times higher than in the rest of the private sector, with an average of $74,800, according to the Comptroller's office.
…
"The massive size of the Wall Street bonuses is disturbing not just because of how it contributes to economic inequality in this country," said?Sarah Anderson, the global economy project director at the Institute for Policy Studies. "It's also a sign that the reckless Wall Street bonus culture, which contributed to the 2008 financial crisis, continues to flourish.
USA TODAY: Wall Street bonuses jump 17% to average of $184,220 in 2017
The big rise in stock prices in 2017 boosted the average bonus paid to Wall Street workers that live in New York city to $184,220, up 17% from a year earlier, according to an estimate released today by the New York State Comptroller.
Wall Street bonus pay dwarfs that of the average American worker. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage for workers in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2017 was $44,564 per year.
…
The sizable bonus gains came despite a slight dip in employment on Wall Street to 176,900 jobs.
CNBC: Wall Street bonuses jump 17% to precrisis levels
The annual bonus for the average Wall Street worker is back to heights not seen since before the financial crisis … The comptroller's annual report said bonuses for 2017 likely got a boost from tax law changes that will eliminate the corporate deduction for performance-based pay starting in 2018.
GOP TAX SCAM EXPLODES DEFICIT BY $2 TRILLION
Vox: Paul Ryan has no good answers for the ballooning deficits that happened under his watch
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) sold himself as a policy wonk and budget hawk throughout his 20-year career in the House. Now Ryan is retiring at the age of 48, after less than three years as Speaker. He seems to have abandoned the principles he championed during his time in Congress — fiscal responsibility and budget austerity — leaving ballooning deficits and Republican infighting. (For reference, the Congressional Budget Office this week estimated that deficits are going to be about $1.85 trillion bigger over the net 10 years, primarily because of the $1.5 trillion tax cut passed by Republicans in December.)
The Hill: Corker: Tax cuts could be 'one of the worst votes I've made'
"If it ends up costing what has been laid out here, it could well be one of the worst votes I've made," [Sen. Corker] said.
…
"None of us have covered ourselves in glory. This Congress and this administration likely will go down as one of the most fiscally irresponsible administrations and congresses that we've had."
Forbes: Paul Ryan's Most Lasting Legacy: Permanent Trillion-Dollar Deficits
Paul Ryan's (R-WI) most lasting legacy as speaker of the House of Representatives will be as the person who enabled permanent trillion-dollar deficits in the United States.
Ryan's announcement that he would not seek reelection came less than 48 hours after the Congressional Budget Office released a report: Because of last year's big tax cut and this year's big spending increase, even in good economic times the federal deficit will be very close to $1 trillion in 2019, will reach $1 trillion in 2020 and will exceed $1 trillion every year through at least 2028.
The Hill: Starbucks's Schultz on tax law: 'We are robbing from the future of young people'
In an interview on Fox Business Network's "Mornings With Maria," Schultz criticized the fact that the tax cuts are estimated to add more than $1 trillion to the national debt, which already exceeds $20 trillion. "I think we are not paying much attention to that while we are robbing from the future of young people in America who ultimately are going to have to pay for a $21 trillion tax deficit," he said.
MEDIA OUTLETS ACROSS THE COUNTRY SLAM THE GOP TAX SCAM
Washington Post: Tax bill troubles for the GOP?
Vanity Fair: Corporations Stop Pretending to Help Workers, Go Back to Enriching Themselves
Wall Street Journal: Boom in Share Buybacks Renews Question of Who Wins From Tax Cuts
Los Angeles Times: Home Depot's bonuses underscore what workers get out of the corporate tax cut: Peanuts
The Atlantic: The GOP's Tax-Cut Narrative Is Unraveling
The Hill: Starbucks's Schultz on tax law: 'We are robbing from the future of young people'
CNBC: In wake of Trump tax bill, companies have raced to buy back their own stock
CNN: Tax law to spark $450 billion buyout bonanza for Wall Street
Wall Street Journal: Stock Buybacks Are Having a Last Hurrah
Reuters: U.S. corporate buybacks, dividends since tax bill vote
Bloomberg: Trump's Tax Promises Undercut by CEO Plans to Help Investors
Think Progress: After GOP tax bill passes, worker bonuses get headlines but the real money goes to stock buybacks
MarketWatch: Share buyback machine now in overdrive — dropping a strong hint at what CEOs plan to do with tax savings
The Intercept: Corporations Say Publicly They'll Pocket The Tax Cut, But Republicans Aren't Listening
U.S. News & World Report: Trump's Tax Cut Plan Will Fuel Stock Buybacks
Axios: Pharma's $50 billion tax windfall for investors
Los Angeles Times: Pfizer, pocketing a big tax cut from Trump, will end investment in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research
Accounting Today: Corporate tax cuts going toward share buybacks
Esquire: What Comes After the Tax Bill? You Already Know.
Missourian: Drug firms lead the way on pocketing tax cuts
CNBC: While everyone else was selling stocks this month, companies were buying heavily
New York Times: Well-Heeled Investors Reap the Republican Tax Cut Bonanza
USA TODAY: Warren Buffett shareholder letter says Berkshire posted $29 billion gain from tax cut law
Associated Press: Investors are winners as companies lay out tax-saving plans
Fiscal Times: Tax Cuts Help Drive Corporate Buybacks to Record High
The Hill: Cisco to use savings from GOP tax law to buy back shares
Lincoln Journal Star: Buybacks dominate tax bill aftermath
CNBC: Democrats slam Republican tax cut for $97 billion wave in corporate share buybacks
VICE: The Trump Tax Cut Isn't Trickling Down to Workers
New York Times: Are Corporate Tax Cuts Raising Pay? Yes, for Bosses
Financial Times: Drugmaker emerges as big winner from Trump tax bill
Salon: Kimberly-Clark celebrates the Trump tax cuts with massive layoffs, share buybacks
CNBC: US firms will now focus on stock buybacks after tax cuts, David Rubenstein says
MarketWatch: Now we know where the tax cut is going: Share buybacks
Vanity Fair: Trump's Self-Serving Tax Cut Is A Political Time Bomb
Washington Post Op-Ed: I helped create the GOP tax myth. Trump is wrong: Tax cuts don't equal growth.
Washington Post: Yes, Trump's tax proposal as introduced would help him and his family
Salon: Everyone hates Trump's godawful tax plan — except the GOP donor class
Mic: Trump Tax Plan: Will GOP reform really help the middle class? 3 ways the "miracle" is a misnomer
Bloomberg: GOP Plan Has Large Tax Breaks for the Highest Earners
USA TODAY: Trump's tax plan could actually benefit wealthy people like him
New York Times: Trump Tax Plan Benefits Wealthy, Including Trump
Axios: Trump skeptical of his own tax plan.
NBC News: GOP Rhetoric on New Tax Plan Doesn't Match Reality.
NY Daily News: GOP tax plan would deal huge blow to millions of New Yorkers by ending state, local property tax deductibility
LA Times: Here's why Trump's tax plan will hit Californians especially hard
NBC News: Tax Plan Impact a Mystery for the Middle Class, but not for Trump.
CNBC: GOP tax plan is 'the great con,' says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
NY Times: Trump Misleads on Who Benefits From Tax Plan
Washington Post Op-Ed: Trump's spin doesn't match his tax plan
Business Insider Op-Ed: The 'doubled standard deduction' in the GOP tax plan is a lie
The Guardian: Big winner under Trump's tax plan for 'everyday Americans': Donald J Trump
LA Times Op-Ed: Don't buy the spin: The new tax plan is a huge giveaway to the rich
CNN: Trump's massive tax cut -- for the rich
CNBC: Trump, GOP push tax cut for the ultra-wealthy
USA TODAY: Trump's tax plan poised to help Trump