John,

Major corporations are using their windfall profits and tax breaks to shower wealthy CEOs and shareholders with riches instead of investing in workers’ wages and benefits. And one of the most blatant examples is through their use of stock buybacks.

Stock buybacks are a gimmick used by corporations to artificially inflate their stock price by buying up their own shares. Because over 90% of all corporate stock is owned by the wealthiest 10% of Americans―and over half is owned by the top 1%―whenever corporations use this market maneuver they’re almost exclusively further enriching the already rich.[1][2]

The last two years alone, 10 mega-corporations including Google, Meta (formerly Facebook), T-Mobile, and Raytheon spent $270 billion on stock buybacks.[3] That’s why, in 2022, Congress passed a new 1% tax on stock buybacks to discourage this practice.

In the first half of last year, this new tax generated $3.5 billion in new tax revenue.[4] But it did not stop corporations from investing in stock buybacks over workers’ wages. In fact, our research shows that the 10 mega-corporations we looked at increased their use of stock buybacks from 2022 to 2023 by nearly 15%, or over $18 billion.

In his fiscal year 2024 budget, President Biden proposed increasing the stock buyback tax from 1% to $4%, which would generate $20 billion in tax revenue each year―and last year could have generated up to another $4.2 billion just from the 10 corporations we analyzed.[5]

Senators Sherrod Brown and Ron Wyden have introduced the Stock Buyback Accountability Act, which would make that same tax increase on stock buybacks in order to discourage this practice of corporations further enrich CEOs and wealthy shareholders over investing in workers’ wages.[6]

Add your name now to tell Congress to pass the Stock Buyback Accountability Act to hold large, greedy corporations accountable.

Last year alone, Google spent more than $61 billion on stock buybacks. Meta, nearly $20 billion.

And, in the midst of contract negotiations with striking autoworkers, General Motors spent more than $11 billion on stock buybacks while claiming it couldn’t afford to pay its workers what they deserved.

Workers are responsible for producing massive corporate profits and it’s time that greedy corporations invested these profits back into their workers, not their CEOs and shareholders.

Add your name to tell Congress to pass the Stock Buyback Accountability Act now.

Together, we’re fighting for an economy and a tax system that puts working people first.

Thank you,

David Kass
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund

[1] The rich now own a record share of stocks
[2] Distribution of Household Wealth in the U.S. since 1989
[3] 2024 Corporate Tax Dodgers
[4] New U.S. Buyback Tax Hits Companies With $3.5 Billion Burden
[5] General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2024 Revenue Proposals
[6] BROWN, WYDEN INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO INCREASE TAX ON STOCK BUYBACKS