Democrats Eye Taxing Stock Buybacks and Partnerships to Pay for Agenda

Senate Democrats say a 2 percent tax on the money companies use to buy back stocks and tightened rules around taxing partnerships would raise $270 billion for their $3.5 trillion social policy bill.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are coalescing around imposing a new tax on corporations that buy back their stocks to boost share prices and tightening rules around business partnerships that have allowed rich companies to shield profits from taxation. The plans, likely to be included in the Senate’s far-reaching budget bill to offset some of its $3.5 trillion in social policy spending, show how far Democrats are willing to go in using tax policy to reshape business behavior. Democrats say the tax changes would bring in about $270 billion over 10 years, while pushing companies to invest more in their workers and their businesses. Cash-rich firms like Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Exxon Mobil and Pfizer spend billions of dollars each year to buy back, then retire, shares in their own companies, a practice that can help drive up the company’s stock price. That has been lucrative not only for shareholders but for corporate executives whose compensation is often tightly tied to their firm’s stock performance.