Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The Republican tax law has rerouted billions of dollars from the federal treasury into the bank accounts of health care companies and Wall Street investors.
By the numbers: These are some of the tax savings that have been calculated so far in 2018, according to my analysis of Q3 earnings reports.
- UnitedHealth Group: $1.1 billion
- Bristol-Myers Squibb: $463 million
- Johnson & Johnson: $430 million
- Gilead: $413 million
- Biogen: $118 million
- Universal Health Services: $92 million
Details: These numbers were calculated by taking each company’s effective tax rate from the first 9 months of 2017 and applying it toward operating profits in the first 9 months of 2018.
- The difference between that number and the amount the company actually paid so far this year, under a lower rate, equals an estimated total savings.
The bottom line: Some companies have had similar or even higher tax bills this year compared with last year. But these 6 companies alone have reaped $2.6 billion from the lower corporate tax rate — a haul that has more than paid for any lobbying to get the law across the finish line.