With GOP Tax Scam, Corporations Lay Off Thousands to Enrich Investors
But instead of creating jobs and raising wages for American workers, the GOP tax scam instead delivers a massive windfall to Corporate America and the top one percent by mortgaging the future of America's middle class families.
While celebrating their tax cuts, corporations are announcing more than $300 billion in stock buybacks to enrich their executives and investors. And that's not all. Many of the companies padding their pockets from the tax bill are simultaneously announcing thousands of layoffs – cutting, not creating, jobs.
And it keeps getting worse. Below is the growing list of the corporations that have overwhelmingly benefitted from the GOP Tax Scam, while quietly laying off employees:
| 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 |
| Devon Energy | Devon Energy Corp is laying off 300 workers, roughly 9 percent of staff … to streamline operations and boost the shale oil producer's sagging returns and stock price. | About 300 |
| CSX | CSX is targeting 6,200 job cuts over the next three years, while announcing a $3.5 billion increase in their share buyback program. | 6,200 |
| Hess Corporation | Hess Corp. is laying off about 300 employees or 13 percent of its workforce this year, while announcing a $1 billion in share buybacks. | About 300 |
| Cardinal Health | Cardinal Health is laying off 100 workers, after rewarding corporate executives and wealthy shareholders with a $1 billion share buyback program. | 100 |
| Harley-Davidson | Harley-Davidson is laying off 800 workers, while corporate executives and wealthy shareholders are rewarded with $696 million in share buybacks. | 800 |
And one of the biggest beneficiaries of the tax scam's giveaway to corporations is Apple, spending a jaw-dropping $100 billion to buy back its own stock – 333 times the amount the company promised its employees in a one-time bonus.
With their tax bill, Republicans passed a scam that gives 83 percent of the tax cuts to the wealthiest one percent – putting corporations and the richest ahead of everyone else.
Democrats continue to fight for a fair, bipartisan tax code for America's hard-working families with A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future.