Phoenix-based U-Haul giving $23M in bonuses after Trump tax plan
Feb 9, 2018, 8:43 AM | Updated: 12:40 pm
(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
PHOENIX — Moving and storage rental company U-Haul, which is based in Phoenix, said in a memo to employees that it would give out $23 million in bonuses because of President Donald Trump’s tax plan.
In the memo obtained by KTAR News 92.3 FM, AMERCO President, Chairman and CEO Joe Schoen said full-time employees would receive a $1,200 bonus. Others will receive $500.
“The payment of this staggering bonus amount is possible because of your continued hard work and the Trump Tax Reduction,” the memo read.
AMERCO is the parent company of U-Haul.
The bonuses will be given to 29,480 employees, more than 13,000 of which are full-time.
Nearly 4,000 of them work in Arizona.
Schoen said U-Haul could see as much as $60 million in savings because of the tax plan, which was signed into law in late December.
“The balance of the Trump Tax Reduction will be invested in tools and facilities to make each of us more productive in the years ahead,” the memo read.
He also said the company had yet to save money because it still had to earn money from consumers. Schoen said the bonuses were intended to remind workers to focus on making money.
Other companies have given out bonuses as a result of the president’s tax plan that slashed the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.
The one-time bonuses are different from permanent wage increases the tax cuts were designed to create.
Economists cautioned that the corporate income tax cut’s effect on average pay, if any, might not become apparent for several years.
“As a worker, it’s great to get a one-off bonus, but that doesn’t guarantee anything for the next year,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont. “You’d rather have the raise, because next year you’re working off the higher base.”
Eventually, Stanley thinks the lower corporate tax rates will lead to worker pay raises. He expects companies over the next several years to use some of their windfalls to invest in equipment that would make workers more productive and lead to higher wages.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
