> That's the whole point of share buybacks - it's a way to transfer value to shareholders that isn't considered income. If the presumption is that share buybac

> That's the whole point of share buybacks - it's a way to transfer value to shareholders that isn't considered income. If the presumption is that share buybacks increase stock prices more than simply in the short term, then, sure, that'll work out in practice. A pitfall to share buybacks is that many executive compensation packages are tied to stock price performance which can be juiced by billions in share buybacks. What we can observe is that short term stock buybacks are pushed in favor of financial resilience, maintenance, and necessary investments that ultimately leads to the company needing few-strings attached government bailouts. One of the most recent examples is the airline industry in the US. I do appreciate the discussion around qualified and unqualified dividends and their relative tax treatments. As a short term shareholder, I'd prefer stock buybacks. As a long-term shareholder, I'd prefer more investment and financial resilience.