Mark Dayton: “this amendment raises money. It does so by ending tax avoidance by high-paid corporate executives through their personal…”

“this amendment raises money. It does so by ending tax avoidance by high-paid corporate executives through their personal use of company airplanes. A recent Wall Street Journal article described the exorbitant uses of corporate jets for personal recreation, largely untaxed, that costs company shareholders and other taxpayers millions of dollars per year. One CEO made eight weekend roundtrips from his Pittsburgh office to his $5 million home in Naples, FL, where he played golf at his exclusive private club. If the directors and shareholders of that company want to provide that personal luxury perk to an executive already paid $4 million a year, I guess that is their business. But these executives should pay taxes on what are clearly personal benefits, and they should pay taxes on the actual values of those benefits, not on some artificially low fictional cost. Working men and women have to value their benefits properly for tax purposes or they get penalized if they do not. Certainly, the wealthiest people in America should also have to value their luxury perks properly. My amendment would raise $95 million over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, and will also reduce a truly outrageous and self-indulgent practice. I ask for the yeas and nays. I will accept a voice vote.”