Wednesday, December 5, 2012

US Fiscal Cliff Trade-Off #19: Limit Tax Benefit Rate on Big Financial Corp Stock and Stock Option Awards to 20%

Some companies do it right and some do it wrong.  Those that do it wrong, usually go off target for one reason.....Excessive Greed dominating their decision making.

Let me first show the company that continually does it the right way, and still makes a fair profit for its stockholders.....Berkshire Hathaway.

From reviewing its Proxy Statement filed with the SEC, Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway's two top executives.....Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.....both got paid a meager $100,000 in 2011.  And neither of them got any Stock Awards or Stock Option Awards.

Also, Berkshire Hathaway has 10 Directors, who were paid a grand total of $46,400 in 2011.  As a comparison, Occidental Petroleum's Directors had Total Compensation in 2011 of $8,387,000, or 181 times what Berkshire Hathaway's Directors were paid. 

Now let me show you a company that doesn't have its executive compensation right.

Indianapolis, Indiana based Simon Property Group is a large Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).  It is very heavy in Shopping Centers, and very successful at it.  It makes a nice profit, but nothing even close to what the top companies in the US make. Its CEO is David Simon. 

From a review of its Proxy Statement, David Simon received Stock Awards in 2011 which were worth $131,940,000.  I'm not kidding, he got nearly $132 mil in Stock Awards in one year.  From my review of many Proxy Statements so far, I have only run across one CEO who received more in Stock Awards in 2011, and he is the CEO of Apple.

But it's not just Simon Property Group.  As you can see from the chart below, there are many Big Financial Corps which are giving extravagant Stock Awards and Stock Option Awards. 

Now granted some of the seemingly higher Stock and Stock Option Awards can probably be justified, like for instance those given to the CEO and the President of BlackRock, which has consistently done just wonders with its investments, in both good times and bad times.  And Mr. Benmosche has done miraculous work resuscitating AIG, to the clear substantial economic benefit of all US taxpayers.  

But there are many others where these Stock Awards are clearly extravagant.  After all, many of the below Big Financial Corps would now be either bankrupt, or very close to it, if it were not for the Obama Administration, ably assisted by the Fed, financially resurrecting them from the dead after the financial meltdown.

So what's the big deal?  Who could possibly be harmed by this extremely extravagant spending by Big Financial Corps?

Well, smaller businesses and individuals, both borrowing from Big Financial Corps, would be helped immensely if interest rates charged weren't so high.  And the same goes for late fees.  Further, underwater homeowners would love to have their mortgages refinanced at the current lower interest rates, but many Big Financial Corps are greedily refusing to allow this.  And shopping center lessees would love to see their rents lowered.  And policy holders would love to have their insurance premiums reduced.  And investors would love to have their investment fees reduced.

If these Big Financial Corps didn't award such extravagant Stock Awards and Stock Option Awards, and instead used the money to reduce what it charges its customers, then many smaller businesses and individuals would derive huge economic benefits, including Credit Card customers and Home Mortgage customers.

But another thing that bothers me here is why in the world should the US Government, and thus US taxpayers, be funding a good chunk of these extravagant costs?  For instance, Simon Property Group, being a non-taxable REIT, will be passing through this extravagant Stock Award, which its high-income owners will be getting a US Federal Income Tax Deduction at a 39.6% tax benefit rate at the individual level, starting in 2013.  That's not right, not even close to being right.

Thus, my recommendation here is for all Big Financial Corps, as well as pass through individuals of REITs, to have their US Federal Income Tax Benefit for all Stock Awards and Stock Option Awards of Big Financial Corps and REITs be limited to a maximum 20% Tax Rate for these Awards given to all highly-paid employees of Big Financial Corps and REITs who had Total Compensation of more than $200,000 earned in the applicable year.
  
Below here are the Salary and Stock Awards and Stock Option Awards Compensation Disclosures in the most recent Proxy Statements for mainly just the CEOs of the larger Big Financial Corps.






Ratio of




2011 Stock and


2011 Stock and Stock Option 


Base Stock Option Awards to
Corp Position Executive Salary Awards Base Salary



thousand $s thousand $s
Big Financial Corps




Big 6




JPMorgan Chase CEO Dimon 1,417 17,000 12.0
JPMorgan Chase Chief Investment Officer Drew 729 9,517 13.1
JPMorgan Chase CEO Asset Management Erdoes 729 9,925 13.6
JPMorgan Chase CEO Investment Bank Staley 729 11,125 15.3
Wells Fargo CEO Stumpf 2,800 12,000 4.3
Bank of America CEO Moynihan 950 6,112 6.4
Bank of America Co Chief Operating Offcr Montag 850 10,569 12.4
Citigroup CEO Pandit 1,671 7,840 4.7
Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein 2,000 10,710 5.4
Goldman Sachs President Cohn 1,850 10,710 5.8
Goldman Sachs CFO Vincar 1,850 10,710 5.8
Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman Evans 1,850 10,710 5.8
Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman Weinberg 1,850 10,710 5.8
Morgan Stanley CEO Gorman 800 9,443 11.8
Total Big 6

20,075 147,081 7.3




Big National/Regional Banks

US Bancorp CEO Davis 975 5,500 5.6
PNC Financial CEO Rohr 1,169 8,861 7.6
Capital One Financial CEO Fairbank 0 18,504 NA
Bank New York Mellon CEO Hassell 867 5,004 5.8
Bank New York Mellon CEO Investment Mgt Arledge 600 11,256 18.8
State Street Corp CEO Hooley 1,000 8,077 8.1
Northern Trust CEO Waddell 956 7,582 7.9
Total National/Regional Banks
5,567 64,784 11.6




Big Credit Card Corps


  
American Express CEO Chenault 2,000 17,467 8.7
Visa CEO Saunders 950 6,820 7.2
Discover Financial Services CEO Nelms 1,000 9,628 9.6
MasterCard CEO Banga 900 4,950 5.5
Total Credit Card Corps

4,850 38,865 8.0




Security Brokers/Investment Advice

BlackRock CEO Fink 500 13,061 26.1
BlackRock President Kapito 400 10,126 25.3
Franklin Resources CEO Johnson 780 6,350 8.1
Schwab CEO Bettinger 900 6,500 7.2
Ameriprise Financial CEO Cracchiolo 950 5,657 6.0
Total Security Brokers/Investment Advice
3,530 41,694 11.8




Big Insurance


Conglomerate


Berkshire Hathaway CEO Buffett 100 0 0.0
Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Munger 100 0 0.0
Berkshire Hathaway CFO Hamburg 963 0 0.0
AIG CEO Benmosche 3,000 10,933 3.6




Property Casualty


Travelers CEO Fishman 1,000 10,251 10.3
Chubb CEO Finnegan 1,325 7,955 6.0
Allstate CEO Wilson 1,100 6,600 6.0
Progressive CEO Renwick 750 7,500 10.0
Ace Ltd CEO Greenberg 1,200 10,167 8.5
Hartford Financial Services CEO McGee 1,100 6,500 5.9




Life Insurance


MetLife CEO Kandarian 879 6,630 7.5
MetLife Former CEO Henrikson 833 10,192 12.2
Prudential Financial CEO Strangfeld 1,400 6,802 4.9
Lincoln National CEO Glass 1,075 6,245 5.8




Other Insurance 


AFLAC CEO Amos 1,399 8,936 6.4
AON CEO Case 1,500 9,168 6.1
AON CEO-Risk Solutions McGill 1,100 9,380 8.5
Marsh & McLennan CEO Duperreault 1,000 8,250 8.3






Total All Big Insurance

19,824 125,509 6.3




REITs


Simon Property Group CEO Simon 1,212 131,940 108.9
Public Storage CEO Havner 1,000 0 0.0
HCP CEO Flaherty 600 11,687 19.5
Vornado Realty Trust Chairman Roth 1,000 6,800 6.8
Vornado Realty Trust CEO Fascitelli 1,000 6,800 6.8
General Growth Properties CEO (2010 Amounts) Mathrani 0 30,680 NA
Ventas CEO Cafaro 915 14,526 15.9
Boston Properties CEO Zuckerman 950 6,067 6.4
Equity Residential CEO Neithercut 625 9,364 15.0
Federal Realty Trust CEO Wood 850 4,037 4.7
Health Care REIT CEO Chapman 700 4,413 6.3
Total REITs

8,852 226,314 25.6




Grand Total All Big Financial Corps
62,698 644,247 10.3