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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFast Food CEO Welfare Queens
Published on Monday, December 2, 2013 by Common Dreams
Fast Food Giants Gorge on Subsidies
Thanks to a loophole that subsidizes CEO pay, McDonald's, Yum Brands, Wendy's, Burger King, Domino's, and Dunkin' Brands trimmed $64 million from their tax bills in 2011 and 2012.
by Sarah Anderson
The fast food industry is notorious for handing out lean paychecks to their burger flippers and fat ones to their CEOs. Whats less well-known is that taxpayers are actually subsidizing fast food incomes at both the bottom and top of the industry.
Take, for example, Yum Brands, which operates the Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut chains. Wages for the corporations nearly 380,000 U.S. workers are so low that many of them have to turn to taxpayer-funded anti-poverty programs just to get by. The National Employment Law Project estimates that Yum Brands workers draw nearly $650 million in Medicaid and other public assistance annually.
Meanwhile, at the top end of the companys pay ladder, Yum Brands' CEO David Novak pocketed $94 million over the years 2011 and 2012 in stock options gains, bonuses and other so-called performance pay. That was a nice windfall for him, but a big burden for the rest of us taxpayers.
Under the current tax code, corporations can deduct unlimited amounts of such performance pay from their federal income taxes. In other words, the more corporations pay their CEO, the lower their tax burden. Novaks $94 million payout, for example, lowered YUMs IRS bill by $33 million. Guess who makes up the difference?
My new Institute for Policy Studies report calculates the cost to taxpayers of this performance pay loophole at all of the top six publicly held fast food chains McDonalds, Yum, Wendys, Burger King, Dominos, and Dunkin Brands. .............................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/12/02-8
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Fast Food CEO Welfare Queens (Original Post)
marmar
Dec 2013
OP
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)2. K&R but also No Shit. n/t
Democracy Now! reported on this this morning.
Under the current tax code, corporations can deduct unlimited amounts of such performance pay from their federal income taxes. In other words, the more corporations pay their CEO, the lower their tax burden. Novaks $94 million payout, for example, lowered YUMs IRS bill by $33 million. Guess who makes up the difference?
I was livid when I heard this...
"Welfare Queens" indeed...