Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Democratic caucus are pushing for higher taxes on companies that pay their chief executives at least 50 times their typical employee salary, saying the bill is necessary to limit corporate greed. ing.
The union-backed proposal could affect some of the nation's biggest companies and largest employers and would prevent companies from avoiding taxes by using contractors rather than employees. Treasury Department guidelines will also be required, the senators said in a statement Monday.
He added that the bill could raise U.S. revenues by $150 billion over 10 years, while allowing companies to avoid higher taxes by raising employee pay and cutting CEO pay.
Walmart, Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Nike and McDonald's could all face millions or even billions of dollars in taxes, the group said. .
“Americans across the political spectrum are outraged by the stark disparity between CEO and employee pay,” the group said. Sanders, an independent, typically caucuses with Democrats.
The bill would need 60 votes to pass the Senate, which Democrats control by a narrow margin of 51-49. It will also likely face a tough battle in the Republican-controlled House, where the bill must pass for President Biden to sign it into law.
Efforts to pass such a bill could become even more difficult with the U.S. election in November looming, and concerns about the worsening economic situation as Biden seeks re-election.
Representatives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest business lobby, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the CEO Pay Excess Act introduced last week.
According to the report, the measure would increase the tax rate for companies with a CEO-to-employee pay ratio of more than 50:1, by 0.5 percentage point from where the top person earns 50 to 100 times that of the company's average employee. It's about raising it. Proposed Bill.
Companies that pay executives more than 500 times their regular employee income will be subject to a tax of up to 5 percentage points.
If the CEO is not the highest paid employee in the company, the ratio will be based on the highest paid employee, the senators said. Pay data from CEOs of privately held companies to their employees will also be made public.
