Walmart’s low wages, require its workers to depend upon Medicaid, food stamps, and other public assistance because they do not earn enough to live on. But things are different at the top.
Walmart received $104 million in tax subsidies over a six-year period due to tax deductions for “performance-based” executive compensation. Eight top executives were able to rake in more than $298 million in “performance pay” that was fully tax deductible. Walmart was able to lower its federal tax payments by $40 million because of the pay packages awarded to just one executive — recently retired CEO Michael Duke. Duke took in $116 million in stock options and other performance-based compensation between 2009 and 2014. Of course, his "performance" included presiding over a slump in sales and repeated revelations of worker abuse.
Walmart’s $104 million in tax savings was made possible by a loophole in U.S. tax law that allows companies to deduct unlimited amounts for performance-based compensation. Ironically, the loophole was created through a 1993 reform meant to discourage excessive executive compensation by capping the amount corporations can deduct from their income taxes for executive pay at no more than $1 million per executive. But the law backfired: It tore open a giant loophole by exempting stock options and other so-called “performance pay” from the cap.
If the “CEO bonus pay loophole” were closed, taxpayers would save $50 billion over 10 years.
From here
Walmart received $104 million in tax subsidies over a six-year period due to tax deductions for “performance-based” executive compensation. Eight top executives were able to rake in more than $298 million in “performance pay” that was fully tax deductible. Walmart was able to lower its federal tax payments by $40 million because of the pay packages awarded to just one executive — recently retired CEO Michael Duke. Duke took in $116 million in stock options and other performance-based compensation between 2009 and 2014. Of course, his "performance" included presiding over a slump in sales and repeated revelations of worker abuse.
Walmart’s $104 million in tax savings was made possible by a loophole in U.S. tax law that allows companies to deduct unlimited amounts for performance-based compensation. Ironically, the loophole was created through a 1993 reform meant to discourage excessive executive compensation by capping the amount corporations can deduct from their income taxes for executive pay at no more than $1 million per executive. But the law backfired: It tore open a giant loophole by exempting stock options and other so-called “performance pay” from the cap.
If the “CEO bonus pay loophole” were closed, taxpayers would save $50 billion over 10 years.
From here
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