Employee Ownership Blog

In the factsheet Budget 2021-2022: Tax Incentives to Support the Economy (PDF, page 10), released on May 11, the treasury of Australia announced that it would propose reforms to enhance employee ownership. The reforms, if enacted as proposed, would change the time at which taxes are due on income from tax-deferred employee share schemes (ESS), which is currently taxed at the cessation of employment.

Several California Assembly and Senate members have written letters to the leaders of the Assembly Budget Committee urging inclusion of a $36.5 million appropriation to fund a one-time effort to support employee ownership in the state. A major tax bill in Colorado would provide $10 million in tax credits for conversion to employee ownership.

New York has traditionally been a state where it is difficult to operate as a majority ESOP-owned engineering, architectural, landscape architectural, or land survey firm.

The tax provisions of the Biden administration’s American Families Plan would provide a substantial, if unintentional, boost to employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). The proposal would significantly increase capital gains taxes for wealthy individuals, marginally increase the top individual tax rate, and increase the top marginal corporate tax from 21% to 28%.

Twenty-five of the largest private companies as ranked by Forbes are employee-owned. There are 219 companies on the list, each with $2 billion in sales or more. Twenty-one of these have ESOPs, two have profit sharing plans that work like ESOPs, one is owned by a trust for employees, and one provides phantom stock to all employees.

The Texas House of Representatives has set up a hearing on H.B. 2246, “An act relating to companies in which employees have ownership interests through employee stock ownership plans.”

Our online document library for members now features a sample ESOP plan administration charter.

The Trudeau government has proposed a new budget that contains an important provision to look at ways for Canada to set up employee ownership trusts following the models of US ESOPs and UK Employee Ownership Trusts.

Change is hard even when it's necessary. Just because you have “always done it that way” doesn’t mean it is the right way or even works very well. Sometimes you need to reflect and do a gut check. Does this feel good?  Am I getting the value I need or want from the effort?

A new report by the Aspen Institute, Race and Gender Wealth Equity and the Role of Employee Share Ownership, urges the adoption of a series of initiatives to use employee ownership to address race and gender inequality.

On March 31, the European Federation of Employee Share Ownership (EFES) reported on the state of employee ownership in Europe in 2020 in its annual report on employee ownership in European countries. Author Marc Mathieu notes that “the upward trend in the number of employee shareholders continues,” but also that it may be in danger in Europe as it becomes “less and less democratic.”

On April 16, the NCEO’s preconference sessions will give you a chance to dig in and make headway on one single employee ownership issue. You can go into more depth than in a conference sessions without devoting a whole workday.