Dividends

Dividends are an important component of shareholder value for the shareholder-owned electric utility industry. 

Five years ago, Congress passed an important law—the Jobs and Growth Tax Reconciliation Act of 2003—that temporarily reduced the top individual tax rate on dividends to 15 percent. (Lower income investors are subject to dividend tax rates at 5 percent.) Prior to enactment of this law, the maximum tax rate on dividend income was 38.6 percent.

In May 2006, President Bush signed the Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act of 2005, which includes a two-year extension of the dividend tax rate reduction through 2010.

EEI and the shareholder-owned electric utilities that we represent strongly support a further extension of the dividend tax rate reduction.

• The Dividend Tax Rate Reduction Works
• People Are Talking About the Need to Extend the 15 Percent Dividend Tax Rate Reduction 
• Dividend Tax Advocacy: Facts 
• Profile of a Typical Electric Utility Shareholder 
  

© 2008 Edison Electric Institute