Dozens of big U.S. companies paid top executives more than they paid in federal taxes, report says

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

March 13, 2024 / 12:01 AM EDT


Top executives of dozens of major U.S. companies received more in their compensation packages from 2018 to 2022 than the businesses paid in federal taxes, according to a new analysis of financial data from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF).

The report highlights the issue of whether some America's biggest and most profitable companies are carrying their weight, and comes as President Joe Biden is proposing to boost the corporate tax rate to 28%, up from the 21% rate set under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

The analysis, which examined tax and compensation data for the first five years after the TCJA went into effect, seeks to link generous pay packages for top executives with the lower tax rates that corporations have enjoyed since 2018. Pay for corporate leaders has been on the rise for decades, with CEOs in 2022 earning about 344 times more than the typical worker, up from a ratio of 21-to-1 in 1965, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

"We have these never-ending fights in Congress over our fiscal situation, one crisis after another, and one reason why we're facing fiscal challenges is because corporations have not been paying their fair share of taxes," said Sarah Anderson, a lead author of the report and director of the global economy project at IPS, a progressive think tank. She added, "The executive compensation system is really set up to incentivize executives to push for corporate tax cuts and take other measures that will boost the value of their shares in the short term and the value of their paychecks."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ceo-pay-federal-taxes-biden-tesla-ford-aig/

---

Link to IPS report page - https://ips-dc.org/report-corporations-that-pay-their-executives-more-than-uncle-sam/

Link to report (PDF) - https://ips-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Corporations_That_Pay_Their_Executives_More_Than_Uncle_Sam_March_13_2024.pdf

[70sEraVet]

1. A shame we can't have a national 'Maximum Wage' law!

If we had a law that a CEO can't earn more than, say, 100 times more than the national minimum wage, we would see armies of lobbyists invading DC, DEMANDING increases in the minimum wage!

[Kid Berwyn]

2. Corporate McRoyalty

Princes (mostly) of the New Feudalism.

Meanwhile, life gets harder for the people actually doing the work: the serfs, peasants, pissants and prisoners.

[thesquanderer]

3. Paradox? If exec pay was lowered, gov't could collect LESS revenue.

The top corporate tax rate is 21%. When money is paid out to executives, those executives have to pay personal income tax on that money, where the rates for the wealthy are much higher than 21%, so the government could collect more on those dollars if they are paid to execs than if they are not.

[NanaCat]

4. It would also mean corporations had more money

For taxing if they're not paying their executives so much.

So raise the corporate rate, and problem solved.

[SouthernDem4ever]

5. Corporate execs think the fact they provide jobs is enough

The rest of us little people can have the leftover crumbs. This is one reason the antitrust laws were enacted. They have been pretty weak in the last 30 years. We now have a handful of people controlling all of our means or production/distribution. We can't even use boycotts as a way to show our displeasure since they have no competition.