Do we need a or "luxury tax" for CEOs?

[BushOut06]

We have corporate CEOs making hundreds of millions of dollars, while their lowest workers scrape by on minimum wage and no health insurance or any sort of benefits. Companies like Walmart, Exxon, Disney, etc are raking in record profits - but do they pass any of this on to their workers? Hell no - instead, they pat themselves on their backs, and give themselves giant bonuses!

Maybe it's time to take a page from professional sports. I'm not suggesting that we limit how much anyone can earn - but it shouldn't come at the expense of others. There is no excuse for a corporate CEO to be earning hundreds of millions per year, while denying his/her workers full-time status or health insurance. I would definitely be in favor of some sort of "luxury tax" on corporations. Pay your workers a fair living wage, offer them insurance and benefits, and you're okay. If not, then you'll be assessed a stiff "luxury tax". Seems only fair, because who's going to be taking care of these people?

I would hope that such a plan would encourage corporations to treat the employees better. Guess what? If you pay your employees well, offer them benefits, and treat them with respect, they're going to be much more loyal and productive employees! Chances are, your profits will actually INCREASE as your production goes up! When I was an officer in the military, it was ingrained into each of us to take care of your troops. If your troops are well cared for, they respect you more, and you get more out of them. This doesn't just apply to the military. If you can get soldiers to be fiercely loyal to their leaders in the face of enemy fire, then how much easier should it be to command loyalty when their lives aren't on the line?

The point is quite simple. Provide for your employees, or we'll do it for you - but YOU'LL be the one paying for it!

[TheBaldyMan]

1. how about a tax that only super-rich people pay, or a maximum wage?

this might sound crazy but if CEO's total remuneration were limited to 10-20 times that of their lowest paid workers it seems to me to be a fair deal.

[MindPilot]

2. Yes. I would also suggest overhauling the corporate tax code

to provide tax breaks only for those expenses directly related to hiring and providing employee benefits.

Edit spelling

[Solo_in_MD]

3. Its thinking like that which got us to the tax mess we are in today

Tinkering with the tax code for social engineering is dumb...the law of unintended consequences wins every time. Then the pols try to fix it and just make it worse. Unfortunately Obama is on that bandwagon now.

A clean non regressive tax code with no marriage penalties, inducements, or tax credits is clearly the way to go.

[FormerDittoHead]

4. There are hundreds of federal and state laws regulating corporations...

WHOA! I'm not suggesting there are too many. Without law, corporations could not EXIST. Corporations are LEGAL entities.

The point is that, outside of the WILL, there is nothing stopping us from making ANOTHER law regulating CEO / executive compensation, in any ratio / amount / percentage / etc that pleases us.

It' up to WE THE PEOPLE.