Abbott Laboratories Paid CEO More Than Taxes to Uncle Sam

In this era of increasing scrutiny given to ceo compensation, yet another report has taken a look at how some companies are making use of tax laws and how this compares with the payouts given to the c-suite. Specifically, the Institute for Policy Studies has found that 26 companies last year paid more to their CEOs than they paid in US federal taxes. And one drugmaker had the dubious distinction of making the list: Abbott Laboratories and its ceo, Miles White. “Our nation’s tax code has become a powerful enabler of bloated CEO pay,” IPS says in discussing its study, which it calls “Executive Excess” and explores such loopholes as unlimited tax deductibility of executive pay, unlimited deferred compensation, preferential treatment of carried interest and stock option accounting double standards. The non-profit think tank also looks at ceo’s who saved the most from Bush-era tax cuts.

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