Tell Congress: Tax Excessive CEO Pay

The Institute for Policy Studies released their 2026 Executive Excess report, which spotlights CEO and worker pay trends at the 100 S&P 500 corporations with the lowest median worker pay (the “Low-Wage 100”).

According to the study, CEOs at the “Low-Wage 100” received average pay packages worth $17.5 million. Meanwhile, the average worker at these companies received an average of just $36,571.

Here is a rundown of some of the report’s top findings on the gross CEO-to-worker pay gap at America’s Low-Wage 100:

In 2025, the average CEO-worker pay ratio at the Low-Wage 100 was 614 to 1. Compare that to 2019, when it was 574 to 1. At the same time, 17 of the 100 corporations reported pay ratios of 1,000 to 1 or higher.

Between 2019 and 2025, average CEO compensation within this group rose 41.4% in nominal (or, unadjusted for inflation) terms, which is DOUBLE the 20.7% increase in these firms’ average median worker pay. The U.S. inflation rate over this same period? 25.9%. Workers did not even see their pay increase enough to overcome inflation over this period. Businesses that fail to pay their employees wages that keep up with inflation are paying their workers less than the year before. Full stop.

In 2025 alone, these 100 companies spent a combined $108.6 billion on stock buybacks, up from $105.0 billion in 2024. That puts the total spent between 2019 and 2025 on stock buybacks at $718 billion. The biggest offender? Walmart, which spent $8.1 billion on share repurchases.

We do not have time for CEOs and corporations to find their moral compass here. It’s clear that for them, it’s money > everything. We need lawmakers to do their job and mandate by law that American workers get a fair share of the proceeds of business—that’s the only way our economy will actually work for working people.

That’s exactly what Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Peter Welch (D-VT) are doing with the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act. This powerful law would punish corporations with grotesque CEO to worker pay ratios by slapping them with a corporate tax rate that will make them think twice. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is the lead sponsor in the House, along with 22 other members.