Already Spending Their Tax Cut

CEOs Are Already Spending Their Tax Cut on the Rich

KEVIN DRUM

Corporate CEOs have already made it plain that a tax cut won’t prompt them to hire more or invest more. They already have lots of money, and if they wanted to expand they’d have already done it. Instead, the tax cut will go toward increased dividends and bigger stock buybacks, which mostly benefit wealthy shareholders.

In fact, according to Senate Democrats, they’re already making good on this promise. Over the past three years, stock buybacks have been pretty steady at a rate of roughly $1-2 billion per day. But ever since the Senate passed the tax bill, making its final enactment almost certain, stock buybacks have skyrocketed.

This does exactly nothing to help the economy or employ more workers. But it does make the rich even richer, and isn’t that the whole point?