Even beyond the idea of CEOs acting in the financial interest of shareholders, the whole premise of “trickle down” is faulty. Businesses do not hire or raise wages just because they have money. The only reason for a business to hire is because they have work which needs to get done and they cannot get it five with their current workforce. No matter how flush with cash they are, they aren’t going to hire unless they have extra work or they anticipate having extra work. The same with raising wages. Unless they cannot hire the people they need or they need to retain certain workers, wages are not going up.

Money “trickles up”. When consumers have money, they spend it and it goes into businesses and the pockets of shareholders. In order to keep the velocity of money up, those shareholders need to be taxed to get that money moving again. And the tax cuts for the rich break that cycle.