• Breaking News

    DISCUSSION OF POLITICS AND ECONOMICS WITH FORAYS INTO PHOTOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY

    Search This Blog

    Friday, December 15, 2017

    The Companies That Benefit The Most From The GOP Tax Scam Clearly Don't Need Help

    Credit Suisse has helpfully put together a list of the 15 companies that would benefit most from the GOP tax plan (h/t to Kevin Drum on this):


    Below, I've compiled the 2016 net incomes for all these companies and their CEO's total 2106 compensation:

    Humana: $614 million; CEO Bruce Broussard's compensation tripled to $17 million, despite the fact that 2016 profits were nearly half of 2015.

    Aetna: $2.3 billion; CEO Mark Bertolini received $41 million in compensation, a 50% increase on 2015.

    United Health: $7 billion; Stephen Helmsley: $18 million;

    Anthem: Net Income $2.5 billion; Joseph Swedish: $16 million;

    Southwest Airlines: $2.2 billion; Gary Kelly: $6 million;

    CVS: $5.3 billion; Larry Merlo: $18 million;

    Lowe's: $3.1 billion; Robert Niblock: $13 million;

    Walgreen's: $4.2 billion; Stefano Pessina: $15 million.

    Union Pacific: $4.2 billion; Lance Fritz: $10 million.

    CSX: $1.7 billion; Michael Ward: $12 million.

    Norfolk Southern: $1.7 billion; James Squires: $8 million.

    Cigna: $1.9 billion; David Cordani: $15 million.

    Macy's: $619 million, net income fell by 1/3 compared to 2015; CEO Terry Lundgren made $12 million.

    Express Scripts: $1.4 billion; Timothy Wentworth: $15 million.

    Comcast: $9 billion; Brian Roberts: $33 million.

    Of the 15 companies, 13 made over a billion dollars in 2016 and not one company made less than a half a billion. The bill will add 20% or more to the net incomes of every single one of the 15 except one. Does it look like these companies are struggling?

    Beyond these 15 companies, the reduced corporate taxes would allow around $3 trillion in untaxed profits currently held offshore for the sole purpose of avoiding paying taxes to be repatriated at a reduced rate. In 2015 it was estimated that around 75% of those offshore untaxed profits belong to just 50 companies and 25% belonged to just four companies, Apple, Pfizer, Microsoft, and GE.

    Only one of these 15 CEOs made less than $10 million and every single one of them will most assuredly be getting a tax cut, as will most of the shareholders of these companies.

    This is the constituency for these GOP tax cuts that will be paid for by the actual low and middle income workers in this country.




    1 comment: