Trump: Companies are showering their workers with bonuses

Donald Trump extended his tax-cut victory dance Friday morning, taking some credit for a wave of corporate bonus announcements in the wake of his legislative victory this week.

‘Our big and very popular Tax Cut and Reform Bill has taken on an unexpected new source of “love” – that is big companies and corporations showering their workers with bonuses,’ the president wrote on Twitter. 

‘This is a phenomenon that nobody even thought of, and now it is the rage. Merry Christmas!’

Some of America’s biggest companies have already passed on some of their winnings from a dramatic corporate tax cut that will see their basic rate fall next year from 35 per cent to 21 per cent – a move Trump calls ‘rocket fuel’ for America’s economy.

Donald Trump extended his tax-cut victory dance Friday morning, taking some credit for a wave of corporate bonus announcements

The president wished workers a Merry Christmas and said no one could have predicted the raft of bonuses that more than 300,000 Americans will see because their employers' tax rates will drop in 2018

The president wished workers a Merry Christmas and said no one could have predicted the raft of bonuses that more than 300,000 Americans will see because their employers’ tax rates will drop in 2018

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

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

'Morning Joe' co-host Joe Scarborough called Trump 'Chairman Mao' on Friday for tweeting about tax cuts' impact on 'workers' 

‘Morning Joe’ co-host Joe Scarborough called Trump ‘Chairman Mao’ on Friday for tweeting about tax cuts’ impact on ‘workers’ 

But MSNBC ‘Morning Joe’ co-host Joe Scarborough mocked the president’s tweet minutes after seeing it. 

‘Showering their workers! Thank you, Chairman Mao,’ he snarked.

AT&T said it will pay $1,000 bonuses to more than 200,000 employees once a tax reform bill approved by Congress is signed into law.

Comcast NBCUniversal told more than 100,000 workers that they will get $1,000 bonuses to more than 100,000 workers, attributing the move to tax cuts as well as the FCC’s decision to repeal ‘net neutrality’ rules.

And Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati, Ohio said it will pay $1,000 bonuses to more than 13,500 employees. The company will also raise the minimum wage for its workforce to $15 per hour.

Trump has staked his claim on the idea that the middle class will benefit from tax cuts that focus more dollar-for-dollar savings on companies and the wealthy.

And the stock market has rallied this week based on predictions that significant amounts of tax-cut savings will ultimately go to investors, not workers.

The White House insisted Thursday that it didn’t coordinate Trump’s tax victory event on Wednesday with the companies’ bonus announcements.

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'

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’

Boeing also said it would make a ‘$300 million employee-related and charitable investment as a result of #TaxReform legislation.’

And Wells Fargo made its own $15-per-hour minimum wage pledge, saying it was prompted by the tax plan. The San Francisco-based bank also said it would make $400 million in donations to nonprofit charities and other community organizations in 2018. 

Trump went out of his way Wednesday to read aloud a news account of the AT&T bonus announcement, saying that more similar good news would be 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.’ 

In a letter to employees this week, 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.

'Something this big, something this generational, something this profound could not have been done without exquisite presidential leadership. Mr. President thank you for getting us over the finish line,' said House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday

‘Something this big, something this generational, something this profound could not have been done without exquisite presidential leadership. Mr. President thank you for getting us over the finish line,’ said House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday

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

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

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.’

‘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, a California Democrat, said the Republican tax cuts represented ‘the worst bill in the history of the United States Congress.’ 

Schumer’s office complained that since the Senate’s initial tax bill passed, 32 companies have announced share buybacks worth a total of $83.7 billion.

Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told the Associated Press that companies have been sitting on large cash holdings for years that easily could have gone to workers before the tax cuts.  

Boeing, for example, had $8.8 billion at the end of 2016.

‘If these companies had wanted to make these investments in their workforce, they could have done it before now,’ Gardner said. 

‘They’re trying to make an unpopular tax bill a little less unpopular.’



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