Tesla, T-Mobile and Netflix are paying top executives more than they pay in taxes as analysis reveals how corporate profits are soaring while IRS contributions remain flat

Top US companies are paying their senior executives significantly more than they pay in corporate taxes, a new report has revealed. 

Companies including Tesla, T-Mobile, Netflix, Ford and Match Group paid their top bosses more than their net tax payments between 2018 and 2022, analysis by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies found. 

For the 35 top companies included in the study the collective net federal income tax bill was negative $1.72billion over the five-year stretch, because they received more money back from the government in refunds than they paid.

In comparison, over the same period compensation for senior executives at these firms stood at $9.49billion. 

The firms looked at included Elon Musk's Tesla, which paid execs $2.5billion over a negative $1million in taxes. While Netflix paid its execs $675million over $236million in taxes. 

Compensation for executives included salaries, bonuses, perks, benefits, stock options and stock awards and did not take into account the personal income taxes executives may have paid.

Tesla, led by Elon Musk paid out $2.5billion to executives between 2018 and 2022.

However, the figure includes a $55billon payout to Elon Musk that was struck down by a Delaware court in January as excessive. 

Judge Kathleen McCormick found that the $55billion awarded to Musk five years ago was a result of the CEO strong-arming Tesla directors. 

McCormick in her ruling found that the process leading to the board’s approval of his 2018 compensation package was 'deeply flawed' because of how close Musk was to some of its members. 

By contrast, the electric car maker was minus-$1million in its federal income tax balance for the same period, primarily because its carried forward large losses from the previous year, the report claimed. 

T-Mobile paid its CEO Mike Sievert and other executives $675m in the five year period, but had a tax of minus-$80million, according to the report. 

The network company used a 'variety of tactics' to bring down its tax bill, the ATF and IPS reported. 

Those included using a tax deduction for costs incurred buying spectrum licenses and writing off a $350million settlement over a cyber-attack which compromised the data of an estimated 76.6million people. 

Executives at many companies are earning signficant more than their businesses pay in taxes, according to a report. The top of list was Elon Musk's Tesla where executives earned $2.5billion between 2018 and 2022, but only paid $1million in taxes

T-Mobile paid its CEO Mike Sievert and other executives $675m in the five year period, but had a tax of minus-$80million

Netflix paid out $652 million to its executives over the five years of the study, but paid net $236 million in taxes. Pictured: Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters

Netflix paid out $652 million to its executives over the five years of the study, but paid net $236 million in taxes. 

Its profits over the same period stood at $15.1 billion, according to the report. 

'Netflix complies with tax laws and regulations in the US and around the world,' a spokesman said in a statement to the Guardian.  

The groups behind the study are now calling on Congress to increase the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, claiming it would generate $1.3tn in revenue over a decade.

Ford CEO Jim Farley is seen in front of a Ford EV F-150. The motor company paid about $121 million in taxes over a five-year span

CEO of Match group Bernard Kim, which runs dating apps such as Match.com and Tinder, was part of a group of executives that earned nearly $300million

President Joe Biden vowed to do just that during his State of the Union address last week.

Biden said it was time for big businesses to 'finally pay their fair share' and pledged to 'end the tax breaks for big pharma, big oil, private jets, and massive executive pay'. 

'Look, I'm a capitalist' he said, 'if you want to make a million bucks – great! Just pay your fair share in taxes.' 

'Both kinds of corporate misbehavior – underpaying taxes and overpaying executives – ultimately make working families the victim through smaller paychecks and diminished public services' David Kass, the executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness said.  

The report 'shows how executives of big corporations are rewarded for aggressive tax avoidance', co-author Sarah Anderson, global economy director at the Institute for Policy Studies explained.

That came 'while working families and small businesses are left to pick up the tab,' she added.

'The primary objective of the report is to underscore the need to reform the tax code in the country where these countries are based and are making significant profits.'