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Stock Buybacks Should Be Transparent, Not Taxed

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Stock Buybacks Should Be Transparent, Not Taxed
Members of Southwest Airlines Pilots Association protest company prioritizing stock buybacks over labor contracts outside the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 7, 2022. (SWAPA)SWAPA
J.G. Collins
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Commentary

Stock buybacks used to be largely prohibited. Most considered them a form of stock manipulation. If companies wished to return corporate profits to shareholders, they could only do so by paying a dividend. Shareholders who were dissatisfied with a company’s stewardship of its excess cash could always convert the value of those shares to cash simply by selling them.

J.G. Collins
J.G. Collins
Author
J.G. Collins is managing director of the Stuyvesant Square Consultancy, a strategic advisory, market survey, and consulting firm in New York. His writings on economics, trade, politics, and public policy have appeared in Forbes, the New York Post, Crain’s New York Business, The Hill, The American Conservative, and other publications.
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