Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
State Bill Targets Companies Like Disney with Highly Paid Execs
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
January 16, 2020

Share

SACRAMENTO — California legislators are considering raising taxes on some of the country’s largest companies, but the size of the tax increase would depend on how much its highest-paid executive makes compared to its employees.
The bigger the gap, the bigger the tax increase.
The bill by Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner passed out of its first committee hearing on Wednesday, keeping it alive a head of a Jan. 31 deadline to pass the Senate.

Disney Heiress Supports the Bill

The proposal would only apply to companies that post at least $10 million of taxable income from business conducted in California. That would apply to about 2,000 companies nationwide, including the Walt Disney Co., headquartered in Burbank.
Heiress Abigail Disney, granddaughter of Roy Disney — the brother of Walt Disney and one of the company’s co-founders — supports the bill. She has no formal role at the company, but she has been advocating for higher wages for the company’s workers.
“At the happiest place on Earth, they are paid so poorly that they rely on food banks, sleep in cars or live so close to the bone that even a small problem could send them into a death spiral,” Disney told state lawmakers on Wednesday.
Abigail Disney’s comments about the company’s workers stem from a visit she made to some Disneyland employees at an offsite union office in Anaheim.

Company’s CEO Paid More Than $65M in 2018

Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger received more than $65 million in 2018, according to media reports, a higher-than-usual figure because of a one-time stock award connected to the company’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox. That salary was more than 1,400 times the median pay of a Disney employee, according to a study from Equilar.
In 2018, shareholders voted to reject Iger’s pay package in a non-binding vote. Last year, the company responded by cutting $13.5 million of Iger’s future potential earnings.
A spokesman for the Walt Disney Co. said the company committed to a minimum wage of $15 an hour, health insurance for a little as $6 a week, childcare subsidies and an initial investment of $150 million to fully pay for college degrees of hourly workers.
“The truth is, Disney has made significant investments to provide for the upward mobility of our employees,” according to a statement from the company.

Business Groups Oppose Proposal

Many of the state’s business groups oppose the law, including the California Business Roundtable, which represents large companies. President Rob Lapsley said the bill would keep companies from coming the state.
“I’m not here today to defend CEO pay. What I am here today to do is to defend jobs,” he said. “Take the CEO pay out of it. What (the bill) is sending is a broader signal that the Legislature is intending to be able to regulate every aspect of free enterprise in this state.”
California would not be the first government in the U.S. to try this, but would be the the largest. In 2016, city officials in Portland, Oregon, approved a 10% tax on publicly traded companies that pay their CEOs 100 to 250 times the average worker.
Some lawmakers signaled they want some changes before the bill comes for a vote in the Senate.
One question is whether the state should make money off the tax. Lawmakers could write the bill so it rewards companies that have smaller gaps between their CEO’s salary and the average pay of their workers.

Tax Change Could Bring in More than $4B

As written, state officials estimate the legislation could bring in up to $4.1 billion. Skinner says it’s reasonable for the state to make money off the tax because the rising income inequality means more workers are relying on public assistance.
“California’s taxpayers are basically paying the cost for the services that employees then turn to because they don’t have a wage that can provide their families needs,” Skinner said.
Republican state Sen. John Moorlach questioned why the Legislature would seek to meddle with the salaries of big companies when athletic coaches at some of the state’s public universities make millions of dollars.
“Are we going to be looking at our own house,” Moorlach said.
Skinner said public employees in California “by and large … have a very decent wage,” saying most of them do not face “the types of problems our low-wage workers are facing.”
Abigail Disney told lawmakers the issue was a problem of corporate culture “50 years in the making.”
“If your entire reputation as a company relies on the idea of its clean floors, you had better be willing to pay your workers enough to do the job well and with dignity,” Disney said. “Because dignity is not a perk.”

DON'T MISS

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

DON'T MISS

California Just Blew Its First Deadline for Voter-Approved Healthcare Measure

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Halts Dozens of Research Grants at Princeton University

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

DON'T MISS

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

DON'T MISS

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

DON'T MISS

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

DON'T MISS

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

DON'T MISS

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

UP NEXT

California Just Blew Its First Deadline for Voter-Approved Healthcare Measure

UP NEXT

Lakers Hold Off Rockets With 6 3-Pointers Apiece From Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent

UP NEXT

Athletics Bat Boy Stewart Thalblum Takes Down Drone in Left Field

UP NEXT

NFL Postpones Tush Push Decision but Passes Other Rule Changes, AP Source Says

UP NEXT

March Madness: It’s South Carolina vs. Texas and UCLA vs. UConn in Women’s Final Four

UP NEXT

Major Layoffs Begin at Health Agencies That Track Disease and Regulate Food

UP NEXT

CA Snowpack Is Near-Average. What Does This Mean for Water Supplies?

UP NEXT

U.S. Bank Executive Terry Dolan Dies in Plane Crash Near Minneapolis

UP NEXT

California Gov. Newsom Says the Democratic Brand Is ‘Toxic’

UP NEXT

Silver Fire Grows to 1,250 Acres, Threatens Homes in Inyo County

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

7 hours ago

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

8 hours ago

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

8 hours ago

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

9 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

9 hours ago

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

10 hours ago

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

10 hours ago

House Speaker Johnson Fails to Squash a Proxy Voting Effort From New Moms in Congress

10 hours ago

UN Agency Closes Its Remaining Gaza Bakeries as Food Supplies Dwindle Under Israeli Blockade

10 hours ago

Hooters Goes Bust and Files for Bankruptcy Protection

10 hours ago

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

Elon Musk has reclaimed his position as the world’s wealthiest individual, according to Forbes’ 39th annual World’s Billio...

5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

7 hours ago

California Just Blew Its First Deadline for Voter-Approved Healthcare Measure

Nassau Hall at Princeton University is in Princeton, N.J., Oct. 8, 2024. (AP File)
7 hours ago

Trump Administration Halts Dozens of Research Grants at Princeton University

After 31 years of service, Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy IV and Pilot Michael Sill is retiring, having logged over 10,000 flight hours.
7 hours ago

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

Khalid Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, "The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs," in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP/Nasser Nasser)
8 hours ago

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

8 hours ago

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

9 hours ago

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

Vehicles at an Audi showroom in Miami, March 29, 2025. President Donald Trump has said that tariffs would encourage auto companies and their suppliers to move to the U.S. (Saul Martinez/The New York Times)
9 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend