Visiting Professor Rebecca Kysar was quoted in a Seattle Times article about the Trump administration’s tax plan.
No sector would benefit more than tech companies. Collectively, they held $669 billion outside the U.S. at the end of 2016, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Most of the industry’s overseas cash has been accumulated by five companies: Apple, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Alphabet and Oracle.
“This tax bill would be a significant shot in the arm for the tech industry,” says GBH Insights analyst Daniel Ives.
Though some of that money might be plowed into technology development, equipment and hiring, CFRA analyst Scott Kessler predicts that tech companies would use most of the money brought back to the U.S. to repurchase their own stock and pay shareholder dividends.
And few analysts see any significant benefit to the U.S. economy.
“The growth effects might very well be modest,” says Rebecca Kysar, visiting professor at the Fordham University School of Law.