ATT to give many workers $1k bonus to celebrate "tax reform"

[wvjohn]

My calculator says that is $2bn. A decent chunk of change.

color me suspicous. They know that they are going to make a bundle on their prontube subscriptions, and they want the feds to approve a big merger and and save the hundred of millions...

note: I was talking to someone yesterday who said they believe the new tax plan eliminates the deduction for having your taxes prepared, etc. I don't think anyone actually knows what is in the bill, but those who use accountants might want to be aware of this.




https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ill-signed

AT&T Inc., the phone carrier locked in a battle with the U.S. government over its Time Warner Inc. acquisition, lauded President Donald Trump and Congress for their tax-cut bill and said 200,000 U.S. workers will get a special $1,000 bonus to celebrate.


The payout is part of an effort by Corporate America to defy criticism that tax cuts for companies will benefit shareholders more than workers. Boeing Co. separately pledged $300 million Wednesday for employee training, improved workplace infrastructure and corporate giving, crediting the tax cuts.

Trump cited AT&T’s bonus plan at a news conference Wednesday. “That’s because of what we did. So that’s pretty good,” he said.


AT&T’s relationship with the Trump administration has had its ups and downs. Even as Stephenson praised the president, the administration’s Justice Department is busy preparing its antitrust case against AT&T’s $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner. AT&T Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson has characterized the deal as strategically vital, but Trump has said the transaction would harm consumers.

On the other hand, AT&T scored a victory when the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission gutted utility-style regulations for internet service providers.

AT&T has an immediate financial incentive to persuade the Justice Department to end the Time Warner suit instead of slogging through months of legal wrangling. A settlement would let AT&T avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in fees to creditors to amend the terms of bonds issued to finance the merger, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

AT&T’s payment will go to union-represented, non-management and front-line management employees, the company said Wednesday. The Dallas-based telecommunications giant also reiterated its plan to invest an additional $1 billion in the U.S. next year.

“This is a capital-freeing event,” Stephenson said of the tax bill at an Economic Club of New York luncheon on Nov. 29. If Trump signs the bill before Christmas, employees will get their bonus over the holidays, AT&T said.

Phone carriers are among the companies that are likely to increase their capital spending because of the bill, which allows immediate tax deductions for such investments. AT&T and its rivals are upgrading their networks to provide faster speeds and more ubiquitous coverage as more devices get connected to the internet.

In the 2016 U.S. elections, Republican candidates got 62 percent of $2.7 million in donations to federal candidates from AT&T’s political action committee that pools contributions from employees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Stephenson has averaged a bonus of about $5.2 million over the past three years.

[wvjohn]

According to Bloomberg, signing the bill will be delayed until after Jan 1. Because the bill adds to the deficit, it would automatically trigger cuts to medicare and other programs Jan 1 if it was signed now. Of course they don't want the cuts to start in an election year.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ical-issue

[Err]

Wow! A whopping $1K, they will surely coney the 25% increase in their insurance premiums and no longer being able to deduct State Taxes.

I think the corporate tax rate should be a sliding scale based on the number of employees and payroll. The more people you hire and the better you pay, the lower your rate.

[wvjohn]

I got a 2% increase for social security, after deducting the increase for medicare, it's about $14 a month.

[Genom]

Dont forget to congratulate the 900+ workers laid off as well. Good to see how there are all these new jobs...

[Err]

http://www.newsweek.com/christmas-att-l ... ump-758391

AT&T Announces Thousands of Layoffs, Firings Just In Time for Christmas

AT&T will layoff and fire more than a thousand workers starting early next year, according to local reports.

Across the Midwest, an estimated 600 workers were notified they were being laid off by the company on December 16, a week before AT&T announced it was doling out $1,000 bonuses to 200,000 of its employees in celebration of the Republican Party's tax overhaul.

The telecommunications giant told the Chicago Tribune in a statement that the layoffs were part of its “workforce adjustment" strategy for its declining legacy services.