{"id":6244,"date":"2024-03-31T05:03:14","date_gmt":"2024-03-31T02:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244"},"modified":"2024-03-31T05:03:14","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T02:03:14","slug":"more-for-them-less-for-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244","title":{"rendered":"More for Them, Less for Us"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

By Sarah Anderson, William Rice and Zachary Tashman \/ OtherWords<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his State of the Union address, President Biden called out \u201cmassive executive pay\u201d and vowed to \u201cmake big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay their share\u201d of taxes.<\/p>\n

Corporate tax dodging and CEO pay have gotten so out of control that many major U.S. companies are paying their top executives more than they\u2019re paying Uncle Sam.<\/p>\n

Tesla is perhaps the most dramatic example. Over the period 2018-2022, the electric car maker raked in $4.4 billion in profits but paid\u00a0no\u00a0<\/em>federal income taxes. Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk became one of the world\u2019s richest men.<\/p>\n

When it comes to fleecing taxpayers while overpaying executives, Tesla is hardly alone. A\u00a0new report\u00a0we co-authored for the Institute for Policy Studies and Americans for Tax Fairness analyzes executive pay data for some of the country\u2019s most notorious corporate tax dodgers.<\/p>\n

What did we find? In addition to Tesla, 34 other large and profitable U.S. firms \u2014 including household names like Ford, Netflix, and T-Mobile \u2014 paid less in federal income taxes between 2018 and 2022 than they paid their top five executives.<\/p>\n

Another 29 profitable corporations paid their top executives more than they paid Uncle Sam in at least two of the five years of the study period.<\/p>\n

One company on our list stands out for the\u00a0infamous role\u00a0its executives played in the 2008 financial crisis: American International Group. Back then, the insurance giant ignited a firestorm by pocketing a\u00a0$180 billion\u00a0taxpayer bailout and then announcing plans to hand out\u00a0$165 million\u00a0in bonuses to the very same executives responsible for pushing the company \u2014 and the nation \u2014 to the brink of collapse.<\/p>\n

Today, AIG is playing the same greedy game of overpaying its top brass and sticking taxpayers with the bill. Between 2018 and 2022, the company paid its top five executives more than it paid in federal income taxes, despite collecting $17.7 billion in U.S. profits. In 2022, CEO Peter Zaffino alone made $75 million.<\/p>\n

Lavish executive compensation packages and skimpy corporate tax payments are not unrelated. Executives have a huge personal incentive to hire armies of lobbyists to push for corporate tax cuts because the windfalls from these cuts often wind up in their own pockets.<\/p>\n

The 2017 Republican tax law slashed the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent and failed to close loopholes that whittle down IRS bills even further. Many large, profitable corporations ended up paying\u00a0no federal taxes at all.<\/p>\n

Corporations took the savings from those tax cuts and spent a record-breaking\u00a0$1 trillion\u00a0on stock buybacks, a financial maneuver that artificially inflates the value of executives\u2019 stock-based pay.<\/p>\n

Wealthy executives became even wealthier while the nation lost billions of dollars in corporate revenue that could have been used to lower costs and improve services for ordinary people. Until this self-reinforcing cycle is broken, we\u2019ll have a corporate tax and compensation system that works for top executives \u2014 and no one else.<\/p>\n

What can we do to break this cycle?<\/p>\n

Congress can tackle the entwined problems of inadequate corporate tax payments and excess executive pay on several fronts. Raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent (just halfway back to Obama-era levels) would generate\u00a0$1.3 trillion in new revenue\u00a0over the next decade.<\/p>\n

Congress must also close loopholes and eliminate wasteful tax breaks, for instance by removing\u00a0the incentives for American firms to shift profits\u00a0and production offshore.<\/p>\n

Policymakers also have a\u00a0wealth of tools\u00a0to curb excessive executive pay, from tax and contracting reforms to stronger regulations to rein in stock buybacks and banker bonuses.<\/p>\n

We know we need change when corporations are rewarding a handful of top executives more than they are contributing to the cost of public services needed for our economy to thrive.<\/p>\n

If you felt moved by this article, please share it with your friends and help us grow our network!<\/em><\/h4>\n

Editor\u2019s Note<\/strong>: <\/i>This month makes four years since ScheerPost was born, maturing into an award-winning top news source on the most important issues of our time at a moment when the once vaunted model of responsible journalism is overwhelmingly the play thing of self-serving billionaires and their corporate scribes<\/i>. Alternatives of integrity are desperately needed, and we are one of them. <\/i>Please support our\u00a0independent journalism by contributing a \u201cbirthday gift\u201d to help us reach our goal of $50,000 \u2014 we are 75% there<\/strong>.<\/i><\/span><\/span> We can\u2019t thank you enough, and promise to keep bringing you this kind of vital news.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

You can also make a donation to our\u00a0PayPal\u00a0or subscribe to our\u00a0Patreon.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Sarah Anderson<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sarah Anderson<\/strong> directs the Global Economy Project and co-edits the Inequality.org website at the Institute for Policy Studies. This op-ed was adapted from Inequality.org and distributed for syndication by OtherWords.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fact: Many major U.S. companies are paying their top executives more than they’re paying in federal income taxes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1521,492,3492,1107,3348,33,3740,4341,2511,2369,26,2673,1969,4342,1873,2294,959,187,2796,387,1045,3331,3360,3255,1022,3008,1806,1063,4291,1358,1065,3358,4014,1183,805,618,114,380,3145,18],"class_list":["post-6244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-1521","tag-biden","tag-bill","tag-car","tag-change","tag-companies","tag-compensation","tag-corporate-tax-dodging","tag-costs","tag-data","tag-economy","tag-electric-car","tag-elon-musk","tag-executive-pay","tag-fairness","tag-income","tag-inequality","tag-international","tag-issues","tag-lost","tag-netflix","tag-news","tag-president-biden","tag-reforms","tag-republican","tag-rice","tag-services","tag-state-of-the-union","tag-stock-buybacks","tag-support","tag-tax","tag-tax-cuts","tag-tax-payments","tag-taxes","tag-tesla","tag-top","tag-top-news","tag-us","tag-william","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\nMore for Them, Less for Us<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Corporate Tax Dodging. corporate tax dodging, executive pay, tax cuts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"More for Them, Less for Us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Corporate Tax Dodging. corporate tax dodging, executive pay, tax cuts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ch.jfdi.cc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-31T02:03:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/more-for-them-less-for-us.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"355\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robot\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robot\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Robot\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/24aeef359ef2df73056e7502e1cadc71\"},\"headline\":\"More for Them, Less for Us\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-31T02:03:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244\"},\"wordCount\":794,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/more-for-them-less-for-us.png\",\"keywords\":[\"000\",\"biden\",\"bill\",\"car\",\"change\",\"Companies\",\"compensation\",\"corporate tax dodging\",\"costs\",\"data\",\"Economy\",\"electric car\",\"Elon Musk\",\"executive pay\",\"fairness\",\"income\",\"inequality\",\"International\",\"issues\",\"lost\",\"netflix\",\"news\",\"President Biden\",\"reforms\",\"republican\",\"rice\",\"services\",\"State of the Union\",\"stock buybacks\",\"support\",\"tax\",\"tax cuts\",\"tax payments\",\"taxes\",\"Tesla\",\"top\",\"Top News\",\"US\",\"William\",\"World\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Other\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244\",\"name\":\"More for Them, Less for Us\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/more-for-them-less-for-us.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-31T02:03:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/24aeef359ef2df73056e7502e1cadc71\"},\"description\":\"Corporate Tax Dodging. corporate tax dodging, executive pay, tax cuts\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/more-for-them-less-for-us.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/more-for-them-less-for-us.png\",\"width\":640,\"height\":355,\"caption\":\"More for Them, Less for Us\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=6244#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"More for Them, Less for Us\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/\",\"name\":\"ch.jfdi.cc\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/24aeef359ef2df73056e7502e1cadc71\",\"name\":\"Robot\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"More for Them, Less for Us","description":"Corporate Tax Dodging. corporate tax dodging, executive pay, tax cuts","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"More for Them, Less for Us","og_description":"Corporate Tax Dodging. corporate tax dodging, executive pay, tax cuts","og_url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244","og_site_name":"ch.jfdi.cc","article_published_time":"2024-03-31T02:03:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":355,"url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/more-for-them-less-for-us.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Robot","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Robot","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244"},"author":{"name":"Robot","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#\/schema\/person\/24aeef359ef2df73056e7502e1cadc71"},"headline":"More for Them, Less for Us","datePublished":"2024-03-31T02:03:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244"},"wordCount":794,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/more-for-them-less-for-us.png","keywords":["000","biden","bill","car","change","Companies","compensation","corporate tax dodging","costs","data","Economy","electric car","Elon Musk","executive pay","fairness","income","inequality","International","issues","lost","netflix","news","President Biden","reforms","republican","rice","services","State of the Union","stock buybacks","support","tax","tax cuts","tax payments","taxes","Tesla","top","Top News","US","William","World"],"articleSection":["Other"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244","url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244","name":"More for Them, Less for Us","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/more-for-them-less-for-us.png","datePublished":"2024-03-31T02:03:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#\/schema\/person\/24aeef359ef2df73056e7502e1cadc71"},"description":"Corporate Tax Dodging. corporate tax dodging, executive pay, tax cuts","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/more-for-them-less-for-us.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/more-for-them-less-for-us.png","width":640,"height":355,"caption":"More for Them, Less for Us"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=6244#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"More for Them, Less for Us"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/","name":"ch.jfdi.cc","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#\/schema\/person\/24aeef359ef2df73056e7502e1cadc71","name":"Robot","url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}