You're Secretly Subsidizing A Fast Food CEO's Million-Dollar Salary

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/03/mcdonalds-ceo-pay_n_4372972.html

By Jillian Berman
Posted: 12/03/2013 8:05 am EST | Updated: 12/05/2013 11:56 am EST

Fast-food giants save money by paying their typical workers very little, but they also save money by paying their CEOs millions, thanks to a quirk of the tax code. In both cases, American taxpayers cover the cost.

McDonald’s saved $14 million in taxes over the past two years using a loophole that lets companies deduct the costs of performance-based executive pay, according to a report released Monday by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank. McDonald’s isn’t alone: Over the past two years, the six largest fast-food companies have used the loophole to save an estimated $64 million in taxes, the report found.

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Companies of all types can and do take advantage of the performance-pay loophole, but this study focused specifically on fast food. It's at least the second way the industry hits the federal government's budget: Low wages at the nation’s 10 largest fast-food companies -- which typically hover about a dollar above the federal minimum wage -- cost taxpayers $3.8 billion per year, because workers have to rely on government assistance to get by, according to a recent study by the National Employment Law Project.

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McDonald's recently bought a new $35 million corporate jet

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