Telecommunications giant AT&T is paying $1,000 bonuses to more than 200,000 employees and plans to invest an additional $1 billion in the U.S., crediting the new landmark Republican tax overhaul for its decision, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
The company said bonuses will go to “all union-represented, non-management and front-line managers.”
"If the president signs the bill before Christmas, employees will receive the bonus over the holidays," AT&T officials said.
The company is in the middle of a proposed $85 billion merger with Time Warner that President Donald Trump has criticized. But at a White House celebration Wednesday of the passage of the new GOP tax legislation, the president opened the gathering pointing to AT&T's announced bonuses as proof that the bill will indeed prompt more corporations to reinvest in the U.S.
Corporations benefit the most under the new tax law, with a major and permanent reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.
The overhaul also doubles the standard deduction for individual taxpayers and drops the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 37 percent.
