164 Companies Now Credit Trump Tax Cut for Employee Bonuses, Customer Price Cuts
In the weeks after President Donald Trump signed the historic GOP-led tax reform bill into law, at least 164 companies have already announced they will be providing bonuses for their workers and/or cutting prices due to the tax cuts.
As pointed out by the Washington Examiner, the tax reform legislation has affected a variety of companies — both large and small — and the benefits have been manifested in many ways.
About 60,000 people who work for the car company Fiat Chrysler will get a $2,000 bonus. That comes on top of a $1 billion investment in a new manufacturing plant in Michigan, which should create thousands of jobs.
“It is only proper that our employees share in the savings generated by tax reform and that we openly acknowledge the resulting improvement in the U.S. business environment by investing in our industrial footprint accordingly,” CEO Sergio Marchionne said in a news release.
Multiple major airline companies also said they would provide their employees with sizable bonuses.
According to Jet Blue, 21,000 workers would receive a bonus of $1,000.
“We believe these tax changes will be positive for our company, and provide us the opportunity to do good things for our Crewmembers, Customers and shareholders,” the company wrote in a letter to employees.
American and and Southwest Airlines have both made similar announcements, while citing tax reform as the driving reason. Southwest touted $1,000 bonuses for 55,000 employees, while American said each of its roughly 127,000 workers — with the exception of company officers — would also be getting $1,000.
Moreover, Southwest said it would donate $5 million to charity.
The effects of tax reform have extended to banks as well — including local and worldwide financial institutions.
About 145,000 of Bank of America’s U.S. employees — all of the company’s workers who make no more than $150,000 annually — were set to receive $1,000 bonuses by the end of 2017, according to CEO Brian Moynihan.
“Beginning in 2018, we will see benefits from the tax reform, too, in the form of lower corporate tax rates,” Moynihan said in a memo to employees.
He was referencing the fact that the tax reform bill lowers the corporate tax rate from 35 percent — among the highest rates in the world — to 21 percent.
Comerica Bank also said it would give $1,000 to 4,500 of its employees, but that’s not all. Starting pay for those who work at the bank has been increased to $15 an hour.
“This increase in minimum wage and one-time bonus are made possible by the tax reform bill that was passed by the U.S. Congress, then signed by the President on Dec. 22, 2017,” the financial institution said in a news release late last month.
Moreover, Fifth Third Bancorp announced similar bonuses — affecting 13,500 employees — as well as a base pay increase, which the company said will raise wages for almost 3,000 workers who get paid by the hour.
Other companies have highlighted the savings their customers will receive thanks to the tax cuts.
Baltimore Gas & Electric said it would pass roughly $82 million worth of tax savings onto its customers, who will then pay less for electricity.
“Reduced tax costs create an opportunity for BGE customers to benefit from further decreases in their total energy bills,” BGE CEO Calvin G. Butler Jr. said in a statement earlier this month.
Pacific Power, another utility company, will also be passing its savings along to its customers in the form of lower rates.
Gate City Bank is ensuring that both customers and employees are positively affected by the tax reform legislation. More than 500 hundred of the bank’s non-management personnel were set to receive $1,000 bonuses on Monday. In addition, the company said it would provide its customers with $500,000 of home appraisals, for free.
Numerous other companies — including Walmart, Visa, AT&T and Capital One Bank — have praised the tax reform bill, noting that it will help customers and employees.
A full list of these companies is available here.
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