Companies say they’re spreading the wealth

WASHINGTON — Hours after landing a massive tax windfall, AT&T, Comcast, Wells Fargo and Boeing — among other major companies — announced plans Wednesday to share a fraction of their bounty with workers.

The moves pleased President Donald Trump, who has claimed his $1.5 trillion in tax cuts that largely favor the wealthy and businesses would ultimately help the middle class.

But Democratic lawmakers and corporate watchdogs say the move is a public-relations stunt that pales in comparison to the profits the companies’ shareholders and executives will reap because of the lower tax rates. The stock market, as well, has risen on the belief the savings will largely go to investors, rather than workers.

Trump was quick to celebrate an announcement by Dallas-based AT&T that it would pay a $1,000 bonus to 200,000 workers once the tax bill passed Wednesday is signed into law. Outside the White House, Republican lawmakers clapped and cheered as Trump highlighted AT&T’s planned bonus payments.

“That’s because of what we did,” Trump said. “So that’s pretty good. That’s pretty good.”

The president suggested other companies would be making similar announcements, saying, “We’re going to see something that’s very special.”

Comcast said later Wednesday that it will give $1,000 bonuses to more than 100,000 employees. Wells Fargo said it will boost its minimum wage to $15 an hour, as well as donate $400 million to nonprofit and community organizations. Major government contractor Boeing said it will provide an additional $300 million for jobtraining, facility upgrades and charitable giving.

A White House official said the companies did not coordinate their announcements with Trump’s economics team.

But the office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that the bonuses and higher minimum wages were “the exception, not the rule, when it comes to the biggest corporations spending their windfall.”

Since the Senate passed their initial tax overhaul, 32 companies have announced share buybacks totaling $83.7 billion, Schumer’s office said.

Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said companies have been sitting on large cash holdings for years that easily could have gone to workers before the tax cuts. Chicago-based Boeing, for example, had $8.8 billion at the end of 2016.