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Please note!
This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

Did the 2017 tax cuts benefit foreign investors in US companies?

By Jacob Alabab-Moser
YES

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut the U.S. corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%, a boon to U.S. companies' shareholders—many of whom live outside the U.S. Total foreign ownership of U.S. stocks, including shares held by foreign governments and businesses, was estimated to be about 35% in 2017.

The higher profits reported following the tax cuts (and the boost the tax cuts gave to the value of those companies because of higher future profits) benefited those investors just as it did holders living in the U.S. Estimates of the exact impact and its duration vary. The nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy calculates the benefit in 2020 from the lower rates to be $38.3 billion—more than the benefit it estimates for the bottom 60% of U.S. individual taxpayers.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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