[ghaff]

Yeah. They're different. Dividends give you cash on the barrel each quarter that is very sticky about heading in a downward direction--but tax treatment is pretty much like ordinary income in most cases.

Stock buybacks may drive stock prices upwards in an unpredictable way that may lead to being able to sell appreciated stock in a tax-advantaged way a couple years out.

Theoretically, it's all the same after tax effects but we don't live in that theoretical world.

[rileymat2]

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/dividend-tax-rate

These are lower than ordinary income.

[ghaff]

As the article says, it depends.