
AT&T giving $1000 bonus to all its employees because of tax reform - perseusprime11
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171220005943/en/Tax-Reform-ATT-Plans-Increase-U.S.-Capital
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rayiner
> Once tax reform is signed into law, AT&T* plans to invest an additional $1
> billion in the United States in 2018 and pay a special $1,000 bonus to more
> than 200,000 AT&T U.S. employees — all union-represented, non-management and
> front-line managers. If the President signs the bill before Christmas,
> employees will receive the bonus over the holidays.

If you wonder why the tech industry seemingly has little political influence,
despite having all the money, this is the reason. Money isn't the currency of
politics, its jobs. AT&T and Alphabet spent about the same on lobbying last
year (about $16 million). But AT&T can call up a red state or swing state
Congressperson and say: "this issue is really important to us, and by the way,
we've got 5,000 unionized workers in your district." Alphabet can't do that.

~~~
josefresco
Thanks for this perspective. I've always wondered why the US tech giants,
seemingly flush with more cash than most don't have more influence over
policy.

~~~
mrguyorama
Remember that US tech giants are giant companies, and therefor often benefit
from the things that are put in place to benefit tech giants. Netflix may have
stated publicly that they wanted net neutrality, but they can afford "access
fees" and fast lanes. A startup trying to oust netflix by being more nimble or
some other innovation cannot

~~~
HankB99
>but they can afford "access fees" and fast lanes.

Yes. They just pass it on to their users. When Comcast started charging then
to remove the bottleneck a few years ago, it was followed by a price increase.
Netflix is not even waiting this time. Streaming prices go up again in early
January.

~~~
ac29
To be fair, Netflix has increased prices about once a year for the past few
years, and all price increases were announced 6+ months ahead of time. This
price increase doesn't have anything to do with net neutrality, it has to do
with funding their increasingly debt-fueled content production.

~~~
mrguyorama
It's also possible that they were betting on net neutrality dying as well

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yequalsx
The cynic in me says that this is AT&T paying $200 million to garner goodwill
for their takeover of Time Warner. The announcement is a boon for the
President and I do not doubt that pressure will be applied to the Department
of Justice to go easy on its takeover bid. It's a small price to pay to ensure
a smoother process.

~~~
walshemj
Giving a grand to Linemen (Engineers) isn't going to help that.

~~~
yequalsx
Yes, giving $1000 to a low level employee isn't going to help. Giving $200
million to low level employees and saying, "It's because of this great tax
bill that the President championed", is going to help. It soothes his ego and
induces him to reward the soother. That's how I think Trump's psychology
works.

~~~
walshemj
CWA members aint that dumb

~~~
yequalsx
I'm not talking about the CWA's reaction to this. I'm talking about Trump's
reaction and what he might pressure the Attorney General to do. I think both
of those men are highly corrupt and without scruples. To me it is clear that
this bonus, the timing of the announcement, are clearly meant to give Trump an
ego boost so that he does a quid pro quo with AT&T. I could be wrong.

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amputect
Per
[https://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=22150](https://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=22150)
AT&T was already required to pay this out to at least 20,000 employees because
of negotiations with the Communications Workers of America union.

~~~
coolso
20,000 is a whole lot less than 200,000.

EDIT: Also, those 20K you mentioned are essentially getting both. It's a
totally separate bonus.

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8bitben
I have a feeling the majority of that $1000 will be taken right back in higher
health care costs and lost state & local deductions.

~~~
drawnwren
If you're working for AT&T aren't you on corporate insurance?

~~~
iamstephenliu
Having corporate insurance doesn't mean employees aren't subject to paying
premiums that could increase next year.

~~~
objclxt
Although corporate insurance for companies the size of AT&T is generally self
funded, rather than insured, so the state of the insurance market doesn’t
always reflect their premiums.

~~~
jsjohnst
> Although corporate insurance for companies the size of AT&T is generally
> self funded

When I worked there (long time ago), that wasn’t the case, but seems you are
correct now anyway.

[http://att.jobs/media/151345/Benefits-Overview-
Management_01...](http://att.jobs/media/151345/Benefits-Overview-
Management_012616.pdf)

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e15ctr0n
Comcast just announced pretty much the same thing.

Comcast Celebrates Tax Reform, Net Neutrality Votes With $1K Employee Bonuses,
Plans $50B In Capex By 2023 |
[http://deadline.com/?p=1202230881](http://deadline.com/?p=1202230881)

 _Citing “the passage of tax reform and the FCC’s action on broadband” (aka
the Dec. 14 vote to repeal net neutrality), Comcast chief Brian Roberts
announced $1,000 bonuses would go to more than 1,000 front-line and non-
executive employees. Roberts also announced that the Company expects to spend
“well in excess” of $50B over the next five years investing in infrastructure
to radically improve and extend broadband plant and capacity, and its
television, film and theme park offerings._

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omarforgotpwd
So they're giving the bonus this year, to reduce taxes and then reaping the
benefits next year. Smart.

~~~
EADGBE
It's like they have accountants or something.

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blunte
Since publicly traded US companies often claim to be focused most on raising
shareholder value, this _apparent_ generosity must be part of some long play
(which ATT believes will ultimately pay for itself in stock price, tax
deductions, or something).

~~~
reaperducer
It's probably small, but I bet there's some measurable savings in terms of
employee churn. Even if you delay some of the turnover for a year because of
happy employees, that's a lot of HR expense saved. I wish there was a way to
find out.

~~~
blunte
It's actually good for the bottom line to pay employees more, up to a point.
But companies like ATT aren't know (in the last 25 years) to have that kind of
wisdom.

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alphabettsy
Buying Goodwill for Time Warner merger and Net Neutrality?

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backtoyoujim
wow.

instead of fiber to the curb AT&T employees can almost afford an iphone x

~~~
lamarpye
Strange because the price is nearly the same.

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dangero
Can someone explain the reasoning here when taxes don't change till next year?

Edit: I think my question was not clear -- this bonus will be given in 2017 --
AT&T is not getting any tax breaks this year, so why give a special bonus this
calendar year? "If the President signs the bill before Christmas, employees
will receive the bonus over the holidays." So during the 2017 tax year.

~~~
aggie
The fact that the tax cuts are permanent and this is a one time bonus
certainly makes it seem like a publicity stunt, possibly related to currying
favor for the merger with Time Warner.

That said, if you take their stated reason at face value, the tax cuts aren't
directly providing the cash for the bonuses, so they can do it now based on
projected savings later.

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rco8786
Why not $1,000 raise?

~~~
doubt_me
propaganda

1k isn't shit for a family anymore. 1 bill and its gone

~~~
reaperducer
Did you send back the $1,200 check that George Bush sent everyone during his
administration, or are you too young to remember the impact that had on the
country?

~~~
jitl
Wikipedia claims 3.5% spending increase. What do you see as the effect on the
recession?

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mnm1
Corporate tax rates get slashed almost in half and employees get a few hundred
bucks after taxes. Is this that trickle down economics I keep hearing about? I
believe it is. Someone got fucked. And it wasn't AT&T.

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adventured
Alternatively you can leave the US corporate income tax rate where it is,
which is the second highest effective rate in the OECD, and uncompetitive with
dozens of other major economies. You can then watch a lot more massive
corporations take their headquarters, R&D, white collar jobs, investment, etc.
outside of the US.

Particularly small & mid-size US manufacturing is at a severe disadvantage
with the high US effective corporate income tax rate. US manufacturing
companies pay twice the corporate income tax rate as their peers in China.
That means less capital available for investing into expansion, productivity,
innovation, et al.

Pretending the US doesn't have to compete with the rest of the world, is an
ideal recipe for economic disaster. The US should have slashed its corporate
income tax rate decades ago. And it should raise the income taxes on the top
1/4 to pay for it (they get a benefit back in rising stock prices, as they're
the primary stock owners in the US). You want to lure foreign capital
investment and foreign corporations to US shores, you don't do that with high
corporate tax rates.

~~~
wvenable
> which is the second highest effective rate in the OECD

Yeah that statistic was shocking to me; it was significantly higher than most
other nations. But the next the bullet point is that US corporations actually
pay _significantly_ less than other countries because of deductions and
loopholes.

If US corporations _actually_ paid the new lower corporate tax rate they'd
spend _more_ on taxes than they do now.

~~~
rayiner
OP said effective rate, not statutory rate. Effective rate is _after_
deductions, and the U.S. is near the top on that chart too:
[https://www.npr.org/2017/08/07/541797699/fact-check-does-
the...](https://www.npr.org/2017/08/07/541797699/fact-check-does-the-u-s-have-
the-highest-corporate-tax-rate-in-the-world). The second chart has the U.S. at
#3 out of OECD countries (Argentina is not an OECD country), behind Japan and
about tied with the U.K. The effective rate in the U.S. is 18.6%. Germany is
at 15.5%, France is at 11.2%, and Canada is at 8.5%.

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rco8786
nm, math

~~~
coolso
A rather shortsighted way to look at things. How do you know this isn't just
the tip of the iceberg? How do you know that they won't use that savings to
further invest in the company which in turn could create thousands of new
jobs? (EDIT: I just re-read the article, and it says in addition to the bonus,
they'll be investing an additional $1B in the US in 2018, and that "Every $1
billion in capital invested in the telecom industry creates about 7,000 jobs
for American workers, research shows.")

Also, what's with the negative outlook? I'll bet all 200K of those employees
are pretty happy about that $1K bonus (on top of saving another $2K/yr in
taxes, totaling an extra $3K+ in their pockets, over 10 years = $30K+).

The tax bill just passed and companies are already proving the naysayers
wrong, and it seems like people are just trying to find every excuse as to why
it's supposedly not actually a good thing that people are going to be able to
keep thousands of bucks more every year. Talk about bah humbug!

~~~
scarface74
That's not how things work. With the almost 0% interest rate do you really
think that if AT&T found a worthwhile capital investment they wouldn't do it
regardless of the tax plan?

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vannevar
And they'll need it, because of tax reform.

