Eventually that money is going to come back though - no shareholder wants a company to sit on a massive cash pile for decades.
If a company can’t find a use for the money, then investors will want that cash returned so that they can find a use for it elsewhere.
Apple itself set a goal in 2018 to be net cash neutral:
https://www.morningstar.com/markets/what-apples-cash-problem...
And when the money comes back to investors, that’s when taxes can be paid and everyone benefits.
Stock buybacks also result in capital gains taxes eventually - it just takes a long time because investors get to choose when to take the gain. If we wanted to fix that, we could just make stock buybacks illegal again like they were before 1982.
Then investors would get dividends again, which results in immediate revenue for the federal government.
"Hording cash" sounds like NOT spending on expenses and offsetting profits, and therefore likely involves that corporation being taxed. In addition it sounds a lot more sustainable than wall streets typical obsession with short term gains Uber alles.
“Company ABC made a billion last quarter and still had layoffs. Why are they so stupid? Can’t they save for a rainy day?”
“Company XYZ made a billion for the last 12 quarters. Why aren’t they giving it to their employees, or paying a wealth tax?”