Shareholders of Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) have rejected a proposal for the company to issue a dividend.
Voting by a margin of 10 to 1, shareholders decided against receiving a payout at Cisco’s annual meeting in Santa Clara, CA, but the company could consider offering a dividend if tax conditions improved.
Cisco, which has a major facility in RTP, has not paid a dividend to date, and this meeting was the first time a proposal to do so was formally raised.
Currently, company profits are taxed at the corporate level in the United States, and then investors also pay tax on the portion of these profits they receive as a dividend.
This policy is widely seen as a disincentive for companies to pay dividends because there is no related tax deduction, unlike corporate interest rate payments.
Cisco Systems: www.ciscosystems.com
