stock buybacks Archives - Americans for Financial Reform

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Letters to Regulators: Comment Letter to OMB on Uniform Guidance Relating to Stock Buybacks and Executive Comepensation

AFREF and the Institute for Policy Studies, Global Economy Project led a comment letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) about its uniform guidance, which sets the boundaries around the types of strings states and localities are allowed to attach when they disburse federal funds. This comment letter argues state and local governments should be allowed to give preferential treatment to bidders that commit to make productive investments in their companies and refrain from stock buybacks and excessive executive compensation.

News Release: Commerce Department to Give Companies that Don’t Waste Money on Stock Buybacks A Leg Up in CHIPS Subsidies

Washington, D.C. – Commerce Department guidelines finalized today are a critical step in ensuring that public investment in chip makers is used for productive ends instead of squandered on stock buybacks.

Blog: Congress Takes Historic Step to Tax Stock Buybacks

Schumer uttered those words as the Senate was on the brink of passing the Inflation Reduction Act—the compromise reconciliation bill that resulted from prolonged, heated negotiations amongst Democrats. The version that will go to President Biden includes something brand-new in U.S. economic policy: a one percent excise tax on stock buybacks, which reached an astonishing $882 billion last year.

News Release: The President’s Annual Budget Includes Critical Proposals That Would Pave the Way for a Just and Sustainable Economy

This morning, the Biden administration unveiled its annual budget, which includes a tax on households with wealth over $100 million, a 1% tax on stock buybacks, and a proposal for a three-year freeze on corporate executives selling their shares after a buyback.

Fact Sheet: Massive Payoffs to Shareholders Laid the Groundwork for the Current Bailout

The CARES Act stimulus continues a pattern of permissive regulation of large corporations that has enabled them to channel their income to providing capital payouts to wealthy shareholders and top executives, rather than support for workers or investment towards the long-term stability and success of the firms.

News Release: Groups Sign Stock Buyback Petition

“The money that is being siphoned off from earnings to increase executive bonuses doesn’t just make wealthy insiders wealthier,” said Heather Slavkin Corzo, senior fellow at Americans for Financial Reform. “It is money that could have been used to invest in making the business more competitive and pay workers living wages.”

Letter to Regulator: Petition to SEC Seeking Ban on Stock Buybacks and Strong Worker Protections

Today, 19 groups sent a petition to the SEC urging the Commission to initiate a rulemaking to revise Rule 10b-18 to ban stock buybacks and protect workers.

Testimony: Heather Slavkin Corzo Testifies About Policies To Protect Investors, Increase Transparency, And Promote Worker Rights

The message, for too long, has been that policymakers must choose between policies that protect shareholders’ interest and those that protect workers’ interests. Investors know that economic stability is good for investment outcomes. Over the long-term, economic stability requires broad-based economic growth and shared prosperity.