American workers will see only a small portion of the massive windfall of money going to companies following corporate tax reform, according to a new analysis from JUST Capital.
With the corporate tax rate dropping from 35% to 21%, many companies have announced plans to hike wages and give out bonuses. Yahoo Finance has compiled a list of names. This year, JUST Capital estimates that the Russell 1000 companies it follows will see $150 billion in tax-related income.
Of the 90 of the largest publicly-traded companies that have announced plans an average of 6% of that tax-related income will go to workers, according to JUST Capital’s analysis.
“Perhaps most concerning is if we assume that all proceeds not already earmarked for other uses actually flow to management and shareholders in the form of stock buybacks or direct distributions, then 58% of corporate spending will be running counter to the public’s definition of what is just,” the report said.
That said, there are some standouts with some companies investing heavily in their workers, according to the report. Some of those names include Boeing (BA), FedEx (FDX), Apple (AAPL), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM).
“This tax cut presents one of the biggest opportunities in recent history for corporate leaders to align with the priorities of ordinary Americans,” said Martin Whittaker, the CEO of JUST Capital. “As executives everywhere grapple with how to allocate this money, they would do well to listen to the American people and reinvest in improving pay and conditions for workers, generating good jobs, and strengthening the communities where they operate.”
JUST Capital — a non-profit founded in 2013 by Paul Tudor Jones, Deepak Chopra, Rinaldo Brutoco, Arianna Huffington, Paul Scialla, and more — has a mission of promoting economic justice by engaging the public’s input for what that means. After surveying thousands of Americans, JUST then compiles a list of the 100 “most just” companies. Every year, the top priorities for Americans have been worker pay and treatment.
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Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
