Huge dividend payouts under the Bush administration

[ross]

This is an article I submitted to Slashdot (don't know if it got accepted yet)...

I heard a great segment on NPR this morning about Microsoft's huge $32-billion dividend payout. You can listen to the segment on NPR's website by clicking the "Morning Edition audio" link on this page. To summarize, dividends are usually paid out at about 1% of the stock price. In this case, Microsoft is paying out at about 10%. The reason is that taxes on these dividends have been significantly lowered by the Bush administration. I think they said CEO Steve Ballmer is getting $1 billion from this - which is about $300 million more than he would have received before the dividend tax cut. It's good to be the king!

I have heard this tax break be critized as another benefit for the rich. And as you see, Ballmer just pocketed $1 billion. Can you imagine that? One man, who is already absurdly rich due to being the CEO of Microsoft, just got an extra billion dollars. Before the tax break, he would have "only" grabbed $700 million with $300 million going to the federal government. The average person doesn't have shares in microsoft, let alone enough shares to make an sort of difference in their lives. Meanwhile, shareholders of companies all over the US are benefiting from this tax break. The guys who were rich enough to have millions of shares suddenly become wealthier. You've got to have one helluva trickle-down for this to help the average joe. Though admittedly Bill Gates is donating his portion to a charity organization I think. I respect that.

[ryan]

Nathan has Microsoft stock, actually.

And Ballmer puts it all back into the economy when he purchases laundry detergent for $1.56 at Wal-mart.

He's probably holding out for when the Estate Tax gets repealed, that way all his decendents never have to work ever.