Pretty damning summary of the limited benefits of the tax breaks.
https://www.alternet.org/labor/there-major-ceo-tax-con-job-going#.WmfJfxn7z7E.facebook
But the vast majority of executives who announced they’d share the bounty of the Republican tax breaks with their employees didn’t explain how they’d spend their windfalls or offer workers long-term value.
The conservative group Americans for Tax Reform, which supported tax breaks for the rich and corporations, compiled
a list of about 125 companies that announced their workers would benefit this year from some portion of the corporate tax break.
The overwhelming majority of these are one-time bonuses. It’s true that the average worker will appreciate an extra $200 to $1,000. But none of the companies promised that $1,000 would arrive in workers’ paychecks every year, even though corporations will enjoy the tax breaks every year.
...
Other big names that have announced one-time bonuses or pathetic wage increases are Walmart, AT&T, Comcast, Boeing and AFLAC. Again, it’s great any time additional money finds its way into the pockets of those whose labor creates corporate profits. But all of these companies were involved in a massive public relations con.
Comcast and AT&T announced $1,000 bonuses, then laid off workers.
Comcast dumped 500 and
AT&T dumped thousands.
Walmart pulled the same trick. It boasted of
bonuses ranging from $200 to $1,000 and raises for its lowest-paid workers to $11 an hour. That’s still not a living wage and was done only to keep up with
Target, which announced in September a base wage of $11. And Walmart topped it off with layoffs. About
11,000 former Walmart workers won’t be around
to get those raises.
AFLAC said it would place a
one-time contribution of $500 in workers’ 401(k) accounts amid
allegations in lawsuits that it lied to applicants about the pay they would receive and failed to give workers commissions they had earned.
Boeing got in on the good publicity by saying
it would spend $300 billion on workers, but its workers will see no new money. Instead of raises or bonuses, Boeing will spend the money on worker training, upgrading its factories and matching workers’ donations to charities – for which, of course, it can claim another tax break.