Soak the Rich: Procter and Gamble

To date, following Sherrod Brown’s enlightened tax policy of shaking down fat-cat businesses has been mostly painless: we’ve soaked oil companies Exxon Mobil and Chevron; high-flying tech corporations Apple and IBM; and General Electric – the conglomerate’s conglomerate. These are the sort of menacing goliaths you can picture being run by Scrooge McDuck or the guy on the Monopoly box, and any casual observer would agree they don’t pay their fair share.

Now that we’re down to Procter & Gamble, the 6th-largest corporation in the S&P 500 index, Sherrod’s traveling class-warfare act starts to get difficult. P&G is a Cincinnati company responsible for a huge assortment of home, health, and personal care products. Sure, P&G owns 23 different brands that generate sales exceeding $1 billion annually, but still – Cincinnati?! It’s not Wall Street, it’s not Big Oil, and it isn’t Silicon Valley… yet the previous corporations covered tiny portions of the $1.62 trillion 2011 budget deficit, so the soaking must go on!

Now Soaking: Procter & Gamble

• According to Reuters – which generally lists higher, more inclusive numbers than MarketWatch, and has thus become our source for executive pay – Procter & Gamble CEO Robert McDonald’s fiscal 2010 compensation was $13,115,200. McDonald has been with P&G since 1980, so he’s got enough money. The People's share of his loot: $13,115,200 more for Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama to spend on whatever seems like a good idea at the time.
• P&G’s income statement lists income taxes in the amount of $4,101,000,000 for fiscal 2010. We’ll double that amount so Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama can keep the nation’s economy stimulated.
• Take all the CEO’s pay, double corporate income taxes, and PG wallops the 2011 U.S. budget deficit from $1,620,000,000,000 down to $1,615,885,884,800!

The good news continues: none of the hundreds of items Procter & Gamble produces – some used daily by millions of Americans – will get more expensive if Sherrod Brown has his way. None of the corporation’s127,000 employees will lose their jobs as a result of this dramatic tax hike. The only funds and individuals holding any of P&G’s 2.79 billion outstanding shares of stock who suffer will be the ones who deserve to.

We, The People who support Sherrod Brown’s fiscal policies, hold these leftist conceits to be self-evident.

Cross-posted at that hero.