With 'Super Options,' Employees, Too, Could Dodge Paying
San Francisco Chronicle (10/10/00) Vol. 104, No. 40 p.C1; Pender, Kathleen
There is a move swelling in Congress to expand the tax
break that allows some of the nation's wealthiest companies to
avoid paying most or all of their income taxes, which they do by
deducting employees' stock option income. National Center for
Employee Ownership director Corey Rosen says that some
politicians want to create a new super stock option that would
also give employees a break on option income, by exempting them
from taxes until they sell the stock and by taxing their gain as
a long-term capital gain if they hold the stock for more than a
year. Companies would have to offer the super option to 70
percent of their workforces, but they would continue to get their
deductions. The bill that would accomplish this is sponsored by
Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) and is designed to encourage employees
to hang on to company stock for the long term.