Every year, all Americans are expected to pay their fair share in taxes to keep our country (and economy) running. However, it turns out that's not exactly the way it works for some of the biggest and most profitable corporations in the U.S. They avoid paying their fair share to Uncle Sam--while some don't pay any federal taxes at all!
At the top of the "corporate freeloaders" list:
- Exxon Mobil, the wealthiest corporation in history: Made over $45 billion in profits in just one year but paid zero U.S. taxes.
- General Electric: Made over $14 billion in profits in 2010, but ended up receiving a more than $3 billion tax refund from the U.S. Treasury.
- Citigroup: made over $8 billion in profits last year - but paid zero dollars in federal income tax.
So what are the CEOs doing with the record $1.93 trillion in cash on their balance sheets? We know they are not investing to create good middle class jobs. Corporate CEOs are literally hoarding their company's cash--especially when it comes to their own paychecks.
Numbers released last week by Executive PayWatch show that in 2010, Standard & Poor's 500 Index company CEOs received, on average, $11.4 million in total compensation. Other revealing findings from the AFL-CIO's number crunching:
- While millions of Americans are struggling to get back on their feet after the worst economic downturn in since the Great Depression, CEOs of our nation's largest companies got a 23 percent pay raise last year.
- CEO compensation is 343 times the median pay -- $33,190 -- of American workers.
- The $11.4 million average pay of these CEOs is 252 times the median pay of firefighters and a whopping 753 times that of the minimum wage worker.
- The combined total CEO pay of these 299 companies ($3.4 billion) could support 102,325 good American jobs.
Right now, the richest 1% of Americans make 24% of the country's income, which is the highest share it has been since the 1930s. The 1930s were also the last time the richest 1% paid such a consistently low income tax rate.
The bottom line: Outrageous pay for under-performing CEOs is contributing to the growing disparity between the rich and the poor in our country. This is problem that is deeply harmful to our country -- and executive overcompensation is also a huge waste of financial resources that could be better directed elsewhere.
It's long past time to require the super wealthy to pay their fair share. Much more at the AFL-CIO's newly-unveiled Executive Pay Watch.
