Donald Trump hails tax-cut bonuses for workers, predicts more to come

With more and more companies handing out bonuses and bigger retirement benefits to employees, President Trump praised the actions Wednesday as a positive, unintended consequence of his new tax-cut law.

“Since that tax cut was enacted, more than 1 million workers have already received a tax-cut bonus, something that frankly nobody even thought about,” Mr. Trump said at a Cabinet meeting. “We didn’t think about it, we just knew a lot of good things were going to happen.”

He praised AT&T as the first company to award $1,000 bonuses to each of its approximately 200,000 workers. Since then, more than 120 companies have responded by giving bonuses of up to $2,000, increasing matches in 401k plans or spending more on charity, according to a list compiled by Americans for Tax Reform.

ATR said more than 1,005,000 U.S. workers so far have received tax-cut bonuses from their employers.

The president predicted more will follow.

“Now they’re following [AT&T], I guess the employees are saying ’What about us?’ Millions of employees in this country are getting [one] thousand dollars and more in some cases, tax bonuses because of the tax cuts,” Mr. Trump said.

North Carolina-based Aquesta Bank said recently it is giving a $1,000 cash bonus to all employees and increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

“When the tax reform act was passed, we wanted to share those benefits with our employees,” Aquesta CEO Jim Engel said on “Fox & Friends.”

Also, a bipartisan coalition of at least 18 state attorneys general on Wednesday urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to make sure that public utility companies pass on to consumers the savings from the reduction in the corporate income tax rate under Mr. Trump’s new tax reform plan. As of Jan. 1, the rate was reduced from 35 percent to 21 percent.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said public utilities, along with other businesses, now pay lower taxes and have more cash on hand.

“I’m thrilled to be part of a bipartisan coalition that recognizes that lower taxes benefit everyone,” Mr. Paxton said. “Helping Texans and others around the country by reducing household utility bills is an example of the immediate and positive impact of the president’s tax reform plan. Thanks to the new law, prices will come down and consumers will have more money in their pockets, just as companies are raising wages, paying bonuses, and hiring more workers.”