Many Firms Pay CEOs More Than the Taxman

Many in Washington are calling for lower corporate taxes, but many US corporations have now become so adept at dodging the taxman that they’re paying their CEOs a lot more than Uncle Sam, according to a new study from a liberal think tank. The study found that 25 of the nation’s 100 highest-paid CEOs took home more than their firm recorded as a tax expense, according to the Washington Post. Among them: GE, Verizon, Boeing, and eBay.

“These individual CEOs are being rewarded for presiding over companies that dodge taxes,” a study co-author railed. Indeed, 18 of the 25 companies have subsidiaries in countries the government has tagged as tax havens. Bank of New York Mellon, for example, paid its CEO $19.4 million, while getting $670 million back from the government. But some companies complain the study is skewed because it ignores taxes deferred to later years. The authors counter that ordinary Americans “don’t get to just defer our taxes.” (More corporate tax stories.)