Sanders eyes taxes on firms that pay CEOs far more than workers

Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt) presidential campaign on Monday announced a proposal to tax companies that pay their high-level executives much more than the median employee salary.

“Bernie’s Income Inequality Tax Plan raises taxes on companies with exorbitant pay gaps between their executives and typical workers,” the presidential candidate said on his web site. 

Under the proposal, companies whose CEO or otherwise highest-paid executive makes between 50 and 100 times as much as the median worker would face a corporate tax increase of 0.5 points, with the penalty increasing to 1 point for those making 100-200 times the median worker and 2 points for those making 200-300 times more.

{mosads}The maximum penalty levied under the plan would increase taxes by 5 points for companies with executives making more than 500 times the salary of the median employee.

Sanders said his plan would apply to all private and publicly held corporations that have annual revenue of more than $100 million, and added that the revenue from the tax would be used to pay for his plan to eliminate medical debt.

“But the goal of this income inequality tax is not just to raise more revenue. It is to send a message to corporate America: stop paying your workers inadequate wages while CEOs make outrageous compensation packages,” Sanders said.

“The American people want corporations to invest in their workers, not just dividends, stock buybacks and outrageous compensation packages to their executives. That’s what this plan is all about,” he added.