Last week, a new front emerged in the campaign against high executive pay. Portland, Ore., became the first jurisdiction in the U.S. to require publicly traded corporations to pay a surtax if their CEO compensation is more than 100 times their median worker’s earnings.
The ordinance, passed by a 3-1 vote on Dec. 7, establishes a business surtax of 10 percent on any publicly traded company doing business in Portland that has a ratio of CEO to median employee pay of at least 100 to 1, and a 25 percent surtax on companies with a ratio of 250 to 1 or higher.
