AT&T said Wednesday that it will pay $1,000 bonuses to more than 200,000 employees – and make $1 billion in new investments in the United States next year –once a tax reform bill approved by Congress is signed into law.
The Republican-controlled House and Senate have given final approval to the biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax code in 30 years, sending the sweeping bill to President Donald Trump for his signature.
In a victory-lap event on the White House’s South Lawn, Trump read aloud a news account of the decision and said more like it are coming.
‘That’s because of what we did,’ he said. ‘So that’s pretty good.’
‘I mentioned AT&T,’ he said minutes later, ‘but many companies have come forward and [are] saying they’re so happy, and they’re going to be doing similar announcements.’
President Donald Trump’s tax-cut victory lap at the White House included the news that AT&T is responding by paying $1,000 bonuses to all its workers
In a letter to employees, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the bonuses would be paid to all ‘union-represented, non-management, and 1st and 2nd line managers’
Trump read aloud part of a news story about the move, saying more like it will be coming from corporate America
Trump didn’t specify which companies he was talking about.
But Boeing had announced earlier in the afternoon that it would make a ‘$300 million employee-related and charitable investment as a result of #TaxReform legislation.’
And Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati, Ohio said it will pay $1,000 bonuses to more than 13,500 employees and raise the minimum wage for its workforce to $15 per hour because its corporate tax rate is about to plummet.
In a letter to employees, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the bonuses would be paid to all ‘union-represented, non-management, and 1st and 2nd line managers.’
‘If the President signs the bill before Christmas, employees will receive the bonus over the holidays,’ the company added.
The missive to AT&T’s workforce said the new 21 per cent corporate tax rate would put the U.S. ‘in line with the rest of the industrialized world.’
Right after the House of Representatives passed the final version of the tax bill, Boeing announced $300 million in new spending in the U.S.
‘This new lower rate encourages businesses to invest more in the United States. And more investment creates more good-paying jobs and increases economic growth.’
Just minutes before AT&T announced its employee bonuses, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer excoriated the company as a greedy corporation that would use its tax cut to buy back its stock and reward its executives.
‘Over the last ten years, AT&T has paid an average tax rate of 8 per cent a year. They have 80,000 fewer employees today than they had then,’ the New York Democrat complained.
‘Tax breaks don’t lead to job creation. They lead to big CEO salaries and money for the very, very wealthy.’
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (left) said the tax cuts represented ‘the worst bill in the history of the United States Congress’; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted AT&T as a greedy corporation just minutes before the company announced its bonuses
Trump’s event on the White House’s South Lawn was attended by nearly all the Republican members of Congress
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said the Republican tax cuts represented ‘the worst bill in the history of the United States Congress.’
But Trump predicted that an outpouring of domestic investment from American companies would be ‘very special.’
‘We’re bringing the entrepreneur back into this country. We’re getting rid of the knots and all the ties and we’re going to – you’re going to see what happens,’ he said.
‘And ultimately what does it mean? It means jobs. Jobs jobs, jobs.’