The 26 Top CEOs Who Made More Than Their Companies Paid In Federal Taxes
By Chris Morran on August 16, 2012 3:44 PM
Once again, it's time for the annual Institute for Policy Studies report on which top CEOs are earning more money than the companies they work for are paying out to federal government in taxes.
"Our nation’s tax code has become a powerful enabler of bloated CEO pay," writes the IPS [PDF]. "Some tax rules on the books today essentially encourage corporations to compensate their executives at unconscionably higher multiples of what their average workers are paid."
Many of the companies on the list are household names (AT&T, Motorola, Ford, AIG, Travelers), while others are not on the tip of most people's tongues.
Of the 26 companies on the list, seven were on last year's list of 25 CEOs -- Boeing, Motorola Mobility, Motorola Systems, Chesapeake Energy, Ford, Marsh & McLennan, and International Paper.
This year's crop of CEOs averaged $20.4 million in total compensation, a 23% percent increase over the average for last year's batch of top executives.
Meanwhile, the companies they worked for received an average of a $163 million tax refund from the federal government. Only a handful of businesses paid any federal taxes in 2011.
"The four most direct tax subsidies for excessive executive pay cost taxpayers an estimated $14.4 billion per year — $46 for every American man, woman, and child," writes the IPS. "That amount could also cover the annual cost of hiring 211,732 elementary-school teachers or creating 241,593 clean-energy jobs."
Well, we know why y'all came here... to look at the list:
