CASE STUDY: How Much AT&T & Its CEO Saved From the 2017 Trump Tax Law

November 13, 2025

  1. Based on SEC proxy statements, Americans for Tax Fairness, estimates that John Stankey, CEO of AT&T received cumulative ordinary income of $123.4 million from 2018 through 2024. From this amount we can estimate that his personal tax cut from just one component of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law was $3.24 million over that same period. 
  2. Over that same period (2018 to 2024) the CEO’s total pay, counting unrealized income and non-taxable benefits, was $160.6 million, which is 218 times more than the median AT&T worker’s salary. 
  3. Over the last 12 years (2013 to 2024), AT&T spent $137.8 billion on dividends and $25.9 billion on stock buybacks.
  4. Over the last 12 years (2013 to 2024), AT&T reported $209 billion of domestic pre-tax income. Over the four years before the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law was enacted AT&T paid an average effective tax rate of 13.1%. In the eight years since the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law was enacted, AT&T paid an average effective tax rate of 5.7%.

 

 

Sources for all information can be found here.