Businesses Announce Raises, Bonuses And Investments After Tax Reform Passes

A number of major companies have announced raises and bonuses for employees following Congress’s approval of a tax reform plan yesterday, including:

Wells Fargo announced it would raise its hourly minimum wage to $15 per hour, plus target the following goals: giving $400 million in donations to community and nonprofit organizations; donating 2% of after-tax profits to corporate philanthropy beginning in 2019; and designating $100 million in capital to support small businesses and $75 million for a homeownership and neighborhood revitalization program.

AT&T announced it would pay $1,000 bonuses to more than 200,000 employees and invest $1 billion in the United States in 2018.

– Comcast NBC Universal CEO Brian Roberts announced that the company would award $1,000 bonuses to more than 100,000 employees, and plans to invest more than $50 billion in U.S. infrastructure and operations.

 

Harbor Commission Approves Sale Of Downtown Parcel To Multi-Family Developer

Last night, the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved the sale of a 5.6 acre parcel of land at Golden Shore and West Broadway for $30.25 million to Maple Multi-Family Land CA, LP, a subsidiary of Trammel Crow Residential Company. The land is currently used as a parking lot behind the World Trade Center. The purchaser is proposing a multi-family development with four residential buildings to include 320 units and a parking structure. The project may also include a retail component.

 

Tax Benefits To Act On Before End Of Year

Blake Christian, a tax partner with Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt  LLP, CPAs, has created a detailed, easy to understand look at how the new tax plan can save individuals and businesses money before the end of the year. Click here to download.

 

Gross Domestic Product Increases About 3% In The Third Quarter

The nation’s real gross domestic product (GDP), the value of goods and services generated by the economy, increased at an annual rate of 3.2% in the third quarter of 2017, and 3.1% in the second quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The report found that gross domestic income increased 2% in the third quarter, and 2.3% in the second. Gross domestic income is the total of incomes earned and costs acquired in the production of GDP. The slight third quarter uptick in GDP was due to increases in spending by state and local governments and inventory investment, according to the BEA.

 

Trump Administration Cuts Back Regulations

In the first month of his presidency, Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring the regulatory agencies of the executive branch to repeal two regulations for every new one instated. Through the end of fiscal year 2017 (September 30), the Trump administration passed 67 deregulatory measures verses three regulatory ones, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Since 2009, about 14 major regulations were issued every year, with estimated costs amounting to about $12 billion annually. But in the last fiscal year, the total annual cost of new regulations was negative $570.4 million.

 

BizBrief Returns January 2. Happy holidays!