March 13, 2018. Liberal advocacy groups on Friday called for the passage of a tax on stock transfer buybacks, hoping to get the Republican-controlled Senate on board with a move they say would generate an extra $2 billion for the state.
“If you’re going to use your corporate tax cut — your 40 percent federal tax cut — to buyback stocks and enrich your company, rather than use that money to create jobs and increase worker pay, we think you should pay a small tax on that,” said Ron Deutsch of the Fiscal Policy Institute.
A stock buyback is when a company purchases its own shares. Advocates say taxing those transactions by a half percentage point could help the state pay for schools and affordable housing.
“All you need to do is pay a half a percent tax on those buybacks and give back a little back to the community,” Deutsch said, “so we can afford things like funding education, funding health care, helping the homeless and things of those nature.”
But some budget watchdogs warn the tax could have a detrimental impact.
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