In this video, I explain why extreme executive pay is a driver of inequality, weak productivity, falling morale, and political corruption. I also show how tax can be used not to raise revenue, but to change behaviour – by making excessive pay expensive.
Drawing on proposals I developed for the TUC and current legislation proposed in the United States, I explain how fair pay ratios could be enforced through the tax system, why shareholders – not society – should bear the cost of excess, and why democracy itself is at risk if we do nothing.