Worker Owned Wealth Act

Worker Owned Wealth Act

This bill establishes a loan program and tax incentives to assist employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).

The Department of the Treasury must establish in each field office an Employer Ownership Revolving Loan Fund to make: (1) low-interest loans to business owners seeking to establish employee ownership in the business, and (2) loan guarantees to private lenders who make loans to ESOPs.

The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income a limited amount of the interest received from loans to a corporation or an ESOP to acquire or transfer employer securities for an ESOP that meets specified requirements.

The bill also imposes a 10% tax on a disposition of certain employer securities by an ESOP: (1) within three years of the acquisition of the securities, subject to specified conditions; or (2) if the securities or the proceeds from the disposition have not been allocated to participants or their beneficiaries.

The bill modifies the limitation on the deductibility of executive compensation of publicly held corporations to: (1) require a corporation that uses the performance-based compensation exception to be at least 5% employee-owned under an employee stock program, and (2) modify the definition of "publicly held corporation."

The bill establishes within the National Economic Council the Office of Employee Ownership and Worker Empowerment to provide educational and technical assistance, raise awareness, and report to Congress regarding employee ownership in companies.