For non-US investors who resides in a jurisdiction that does not have tax treaty with US, dividends are taxed at 30% rate, while capital gains (expected outcome

For non-US investors who resides in a jurisdiction that does not have tax treaty with US, dividends are taxed at 30% rate, while capital gains (expected outcome of buyback) are not (taxed by US govt). The recent movement against stock buybacks in the US makes US stocks much less attractive to foreign investors like me. Aside from the tax thing, I don’t see what’s the practical difference between buybacks and dividend either (besides potentially a difference in opinion of the company’s view on the stock price) , but apparently some people are outraged at one but not the other.