Only 9 Percent of Fortune 500 Companies Have Shared GOP Tax Cut Windfall With Workers: Analysis

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton, hold up a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza's signatures on Nov. 15 at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Only 9 Percent of Fortune 500 Companies Have Shared GOP Tax Cut Windfall With Workers: Analysis

"Corporations should be honest with the public about where their fat tax cuts are going instead of doing Donald Trump's dirty work with marketing spin."

Less than ten percent of the nation's wealthiest and most-profitable companies have shared any of the financial benefits they received from a massive corporate tax cut provided by President Donald Trump and Republicans, a new analysis released Tuesday shows.

"Not only are few big corporations sharing any portion of their tax-cut bounty, but the amounts going to workers pale when compared to how much the companies are getting in tax cuts and to how much they're returning to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends." --Americans for Tax FairnessAccording to Americans for Tax Fairness, a coalition of organizations which advocates for progressive tax reform, the numbers in their new analysis reveal that the GOP public relations campaign touting the idea that corporations would be sharing "a big slice of their huge Trump tax cuts with their workers through bonuses and wage hikes is mostly hype."

The ATF analysis, in fact, draws from financial data and public statements compiled by a similarly named (though ideologically opposite) group, the Americans for Tax Reform. The right-leaning ATR has been maintaining a database of how Fortune 500 companies have implemented or altered fiscal policies since passage of the GOP tax cuts at the end of 2017.

"Not only are few big corporations sharing any portion of their tax-cut bounty," the group stated, "but the amounts going to workers pale when compared to how much the companies are getting in tax cuts and to how much they're returning to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends (where those figures are available).

More than a month after the so-called "GOP Tax Scam" bill was signed into law by Trump, ATF has found, only 46 of the Fortune 500--just 9 percent overall--have announced any plans to share their tax-cut wealth with workers. In addition, looking at both Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, the ATF analysis found:

Among Fortune 100 corporations:

  • Only 18 (18%) of them appear on the ATR list for having given some benefit to employees due to their tax cuts.
  • Only 13 (13%) of them are on the list for one-time bonuses and just 6 (6%) are on the list for wage increases.
  • Nine (9%) are on the list for other types of benefits being provided to employees.

Among Fortune 500 corporations:

  • Only 46 (9%) of them appear on the ATR list for having given some benefit to employees, customers, or charitable organizations due to their tax cuts.
  • Only 29 (5.8%) of them are on the ATR list for one-time bonuses and just 17 (3.4%) are on the list for wage increases.
  • 26 (5.2%) are on the ATR list for other types of benefits being provided to employees or for charitable contributions or consumer benefits, such as lower electricity rates.

"The idea that tax cuts for corporations and millionaires will trickle down to workers has been debunked over and over," said ATF executive director Frank Clemente. "Even many CEOs have acknowledged that the benefits will flow to shareholders, not to employees. Corporations should be honest with the public about where their fat tax cuts are going instead of doing Donald Trump's dirty work with marketing spin."

Read ATF's full analysis here.

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