Report Reveals Major U.S. Corporations Pay Executives More Than Federal Taxes

A study by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies highlights a trend where profitable corporations pay top executives more than their federal tax contributions.

The report identifies 35 profitable U.S. corporations, including Tesla and Netflix, that paid their top executives more than they paid in federal taxes between 2018 and 2022.
Tesla, which received significant federal subsidies, paid no federal taxes during the examined period, while CEO Elon Musk's compensation package grew to an estimated $56 billion.
The cumulative executive pay at these companies was $9.5 billion, with their total corporate tax bills netting out to a refund of $1.8 billion.
Legislation proposed by progressive lawmakers aims to address this disparity by taxing corporations with a high CEO-to-worker pay gap more heavily.
The study argues for increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% to generate an estimated $1.3 trillion in federal revenue over the next decade.