AT&T Executive Eager for Congress to Act on Tax, Infrastructure Efforts

Chief Financial Officer John Stephens pegged AT&T investment to decisions Congress may make this year on tax and infrastructure proposals. Speaking at a Wednesday event hosted by the firm, he lamented “dramatically slow economic growth” in recent years, curbing investment from the private sector. If Congress succeeds in the tax overhaul Capitol Hill Republicans and the White House say they want, “I believe we’ll see much larger capital investment, private investment,” Stephens said. “You’ll see it in our broadband, our wired, our fiber investments.” He would like to get gross domestic product growth up to 3-4 percent. A panel of staffers for the Senate Finance and the House Ways and Means committees said an infrastructure package could be linked to tax overhaul legislation and there are many questions about what it may look like. “There’s a whole lot of questions out there over whether this sort of structure is going to be responsive to the actual needs our country faces,” said Aruna Kalyanam, tax counsel for the House Ways and Means Democrats, citing the proposal laid out in a Trump campaign white paper and uncertainty over what funding may be dedicated to and what type of projects would be appropriate. Democrats “strongly believe” in infrastructure funding, she said. “We need more details about how this would work,” agreed Tiffany Smith, chief tax counsel for Senate Finance Democrats. Barbara Angus, chief tax counsel for House Ways and Means Republicans, called infrastructure and tax overhaul “critically related” and said her bosses are interested in anything that drives economic growth. Staffers agreed repatriation of U.S. corporate money held abroad has potential. “It’s the easiest pot of money that’s out there,” said Kalyanam. American Action Forum President Doug Holtz-Eakin urged Republicans to back infrastructure spending and urged inclusion of siting provisions. Infrastructure legislation should have “serious inclusion of economic analysis” and demand “performance metrics after the fact,” he said. Jennifer Fritzsche, Wells Fargo analyst, said the changes could all affect the capital spending of telecom giants. “AT&T buying Time Warner -- this is a game changer,” she said, citing its ability to “challenge the cable model.”