Breitbart News Digest: Biden Plans to Quadruple Buyback Tax

President Biden signed into Law a surcharge for corporate stock buyback [sic]This allows for a lower tax rate on buybacks than dividends. It encourages companies to focus their efforts in growing and productivity, rather than paying executives and funnelling preferred profits overseas.

There are lots of half-formed arguments in that statement; so, let’s take them one at a time starting with the notion that companies are somehow neglecting to invest in growth and productivity because they are spending their money on buybacks. Because it suggests that the argument is absurd, Investors make mistakes about their interestsThey reward companies that buy back shares, even though the money could have been more profitable. “invest in growth and productivity.”

This is contrary to basic finance. The stock price of stocks is a reflection on future earnings, which are discounted for time and risk. Stock bought back by a company at the cost of future earnings It is expected to see its stock prices decline. Executives responsible for capital planning that drives down share prices may become ex-executives quickly. Companies often buy back stock because of their management. The stock’s value is too low, according to the company. or that they have already fully invested profits in things like R&D and have concluded that the best thing to do is Return capital to shareholders.

Fact check: Does buying back shares reduce investment?

Also, it is false that shares bought back by companies aren’t being invested in growth or productivity. AppleIt is an enormous repurchaser and investor in its shares. Apple was the most valuable company in America last year. spent $27.7 billion on R&D,This is almost 20 percent more than in the year prior. This also included Purchased nearly $90 Billion about its shares. Do you seriously believe that Apple is making a mistake and under-investing? It’s unlikely. Apple spends a lot on growth but still makes enough money to have excess cash.

An analysis of 2017 by Silvina Rubio of Spain’s University Carlos III de Madrid looked at the effect of buybacks by companies whose shares have recently fallen, where management is likely motivated to buy back shares in an effort to stabilize their price. These companies were discovered by her. Increased investmentin their business in the second and third years after an announcement of repurchase. Capital expenditures at the stablizing-buybackers were Non-buybackers are twice as many. Spending R&D was 27 percent higher. This makes sense because the executives and boards approving buyback plans believe in the future earnings potential of their companies — so they invest and repurchase shares.

It is wrong to think that buybacks stop investment in growth or productivity. Businesses tend to raise capital when they want to invest — going to venture capitalists or public markets — and to return capital when they do not have further profitable investment opportunities. It is crucial to note that the return capital does not disappear. Investor proceeds go to shareholders who, in most cases, can invest them elsewhere. Even if investors spend money only on goods or services they need, the proceeds are transferred to other companies that might have better uses.

The following is a list of the foregone investmentShareholders would have the same objections to buying back capital as they do to receiving dividends. Yet the Biden administration’s statement implies that buybacks are somehow worse in this respect than dividends. This is completely absurd.

The Taxman Cometh

One perspective is where dividends outweigh buybacks. That is the view of theTax collector. Dividends will be subject to income taxes, however, shareholders who receive them as dividends may also have to pay capital gains taxes. Capital gains are often less than income tax. So, Buybacks could have cost the U.S. government revenuesThey are likely to be one reason President Biden is so keen to get rid of them.

But revenue losses may not seem as large as they appear. Stock is owned by many households. Retirement accounts that are tax-shielded and pensionsThey do not pay dividend taxes. Many others are subject to the same tax on capital gains and dividends. What’s more, many companies may simply choose to hoard cash—perhaps hoping for tax relief in the future—than pay it out in a way that inflicts a large tax bill on some shareholders. The government may not be able to force companies to convert to buyback dividends.

Biden wants fossil fuel companies to have more money, but it’s strange things

Which brings us to the weirdest aspect of the American left’s war against buybacks: effectively it is a call for Corporate management should retain greater controlHow their profits are used. Capital would not be distributed to investors but instead concentrated in corporate Treasury. The decision about where that capital should be invested will be made by Executives rather than investors. Biden is really adamant that investors make the world a bad place. Profits from the unexpected from last year’s transitory energy boom rather than the folks who run oil and gas companies?

On April 21st, 2021, the sun set beyond a Texas pumpjack just outside Goldsmith. (Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP

Actually — and bizarrely — the answer is yes. “Last year, oil and gas companies made record profits and invested very little in domestic production and to keep gas prices down—instead they bought their own stock, giving all that profit to their CEOs and shareholders,”In its last-night preview, the White House claimed.

Investors want to see domestic oil and natural gas producers return capital for many reasons. The first is the recent past. Petroleum profits they were lavishly spent on expansion, resulting in huge losses. Second, the left’s The war against fossil fuelsThe long-term sustainability of the business is a concern for investors. Finally, thirdly, the enthusiasm ESG investment and climate change worriesFurther investments in fossil fuels are now considered unfashionable. Investors would rather sell shares to the company than invest in green energy.

Biden apparently thinks this is a bad thing—at least when he is seeking to impose a tax on buybacks.