A message from the Hancock Country Democrats:
Background: There’s no mystery about it. Many CEO’s make more money than they are worth. Over decades these unpatriotic greedheads have figured out how to rig the system. See Robert Reich’s post (1) for the data and the rationale. To combat this greed and restore some sanity to executive compensation, Bernie Sanders and Rashida Tlaib have proposed S 2818 and HR 5298, the “Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act.” (2, 3) The Senate bill currently has 4 senate co-sponsors, neither of which is named King or Collins. The House bill is cosponsored by Rep. Chellie Pingree along with 19 others.
Bills by that title have been proposed for years, at least since 2019, by Sanders in the Senate and Barbara Lee in House.Under the current version, companies would pay higher taxes when the ratio of the pay of their CEO to their typical worker exceeds 50-to-1, which is much higher than the ratios from the 1960-70’s (typically 20- or 30-1). Right now, some CEO’s (e.g. Walmart) are making almost 1000 times the pay of their workers. In some cases (e.g. Starbuck’s) the ratio is close to 3000-1. This is beyond obscene. The bill proposes a sliding scale of increased corporate tax rate depending on how obscene the ratio is.
Note this proposal does not tax the CEO’s directly. It taxes their corporations, whose boards of directors are enabling these obscene levels of inequality. Under the current proposal, if a company is paying its workers a really good wage, it can also pay its CEO handsomely without incurring the penalizing tax.
Action: Call or write our delegation and ask them to support the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act. It just might have a chance of passing in this congress, or the next one after we have repudiated the agenda of the greedheads and booted them out of office. Thank Pingree for signing on as a cosponsor.
Contact:
AIA Maine: https://aiamaine.org/contact
Senator Angus King
DC: (202) 224-5344
Augusta: (207) 622-8292
Senator Susan Collins
DC: (202) 224-2523
Augusta: (207) 622-8414
Bangor: (207) 945-0417
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree
DC: (202) 225-6116
Portland: (207) 774-5019
Waterville: (207) 873-5713
Congressman Jared Golden
DC: (202) 225-6306
Bangor: (207) 249-7400
Caribou: (207) 492-6009
Lewiston: (207) 241-6767
Urgency: The bill was introduced in September. Try to weigh in by the end of this month.
Extra Credit:
(1) https://robertreich.substack.com/p/want-to-know-the-real-problem-with
(2) https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2818
(3) https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5298/text
