Wasn't aware of that. Yes, I've no clue what I'm talking about. But if buyback gains are also taxed as income when cashing out, what is the advantage of buybacks then?
You can defer selling capital gains for decades in a buy-and-hold portfolio, while your portfolio continues to grow. Dividends are always taxed in the current tax year. One benefit here for investors is that you can defer taking capital gains until years when you are in a lower tax bracket (e.g. retired), which you cannot do with dividends. (The US capital gains tax rate is progressive, if with fewer buckets than income. There's a 0% bucket, a 15% bucket, an 18.8% bucket, and 23.8% bucket.)