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Employees getting major bonuses after new tax law changes passed in December

By Mark Barber
By Mark Barber

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hundreds of employees across Charlotte are getting major bonus checks from their employers.

Officials with several large companies in the city said the companies are sharing the wealth with employees, since they are getting a tax break under the new tax law changes passed in December.

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Business owners, such as Roddey Dowd, with Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, said it was hard to win contracts against countries like China before the government slashed U.S. corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 21 percent.

"This was about the best breath of fresh air we could have received," Dowd said.

Dowd said his plant cranks out more than 1,000 tons of pipes, fittings and castings every day. He also has 1,400 employees, and he's hoping to do even more for them this year than he did last year.

Dowd is giving all of his employees a $1,000 bonus this year.

He said he can afford to pay out $1.4 million in employee bonuses because of the new tax law.

Local Republican Robert Pittinger said many other employees are also getting big bonuses in Charlotte.

"You have Aquesta Bank, Bank of America, American Airlines, so many companies," Pittinger said.

Critics of the tax reform say the rich will just get richer and the middle class won't really benefit from the tax reform unless business executives do something with long-term impacts, such as raising worker wages.

"No one really knows how much they're getting, so you know, what you're trickling down is not what's going to stay on top,” critic Valerie Cordero said.

Some business owners, like Dowd, believe the trickle-down effect is simple. At Dowd's company, when the business is successful, he said the employees are, too.

"Investing in your people is just as important as investing in equipment," Dowd said.

So, what does the new tax law mean for residents who won't be getting a big bonus from their employer?

Pittinger told Channel 9 more than 80 percent of people will get an average of an extra $2,300 back on their tax returns.

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