For Some Big Firms, CEO Pay Tops Tax Bill

Compensation for 25 of the highest-paid U.S. CEOs exceeded the amount their corporations paid in taxes in 2010, according to a study published by a Washington think tank Wednesday.

General Electric’s Jeff Immelt, Boeing’s Jim McNerney and eBay’s John Donahoe were among the high-earning CEOs featured in the Institute for Policy Studies’ report, making $15.2 million, $13.8 million and $12.4 million in 2010 respectively. Company spokespersons balked at the findings, calling them “inaccurate” and “simply wrong.” A majority of the firms reviewed reduced their tax obligations by using offshore tax shelters. —ARK

Reuters:

Twenty-five of the 100 highest paid U.S. CEOs earned more last year than their companies paid in federal income tax, a pay study by a Washington think tank said on Wednesday.

At a time when lawmakers are facing tough choices in a quest to slash the national debt, the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning group, said it also found many of the companies spent more on lobbying than they did on taxes.

... The institute compared CEO pay to current U.S. taxes paid, excluding foreign and state and local taxes that may have been paid, as well as deferred taxes which can often be far larger than current taxes paid.

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John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, was paid $12.4 million last year, while the company got a $131 million refund on its 2010 federal taxes.