From Executive Excess 2008:

The U.S. tax code currently is riddled with loopholes that allow top corporate and financial leaders to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Still other loopholes allow corporations to claim unwarranted deductions for exorbitant executive pay. Ordinary taxpayers wind up picking up the bill. That’s why this report defines such loopholes as “subsidies for executive excess.”

Estimated Annual Cost to Taxpayers of the Five Most Direct Tax Subsidies for Excessive Executive Pay

1. Preferential capital gains treatment of carried interest $2,661,000,000
2. Unlimited deferred compensation $80,600,000
3. Offshore deferred compensation $2,086,000,000
4. Unlimited tax deductibility of executive pay $5,249,475,000
5. Stock option accounting double standard $10,000,000,000

Total $20,077,075,000

Executive Excess 2008 also looks at the pay of fund managers - which is usually ignored in general discussions of rising pay because such managers are not heads of publicly traded companies so many arguments levied against them do not apply. However, through the lens of beneficial tax treatment, fund managers may be more, not less, guilty. Here are the top 5 fund managers by pay in 2007 (no, these billion dollar numbers are not typos):

As promised, the beginning of an extensive look at the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy's 15th annual CEO Compensation Survey, this year titled "Executive Excess 2008: How Average Taxpayers Subsidize Runaway Pay."

Key Findings

CEO-WORKER DIVIDE: S&P 500 CEOs last year averaged $10.5 million, 344 times the pay of typical American workers. Last year, the top 50 hedge and private equity fund managers averaged $588 million each, more than 19,000 times as much as typical U.S. workers earned.

TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES FOR EXECUTIVE PAY: Average U.S. taxpayers subsidize excessive executive compensation — by more than $20 billion per year — via a variety of tax and accounting loopholes.

INDIRECT TAXPAYER SUPPORT FOR RUNAWAY PAY: More than 85 percent of the public companies on the federal government’s top 100 contractors list paid their CEOs over 100 times the pay of average U.S. workers.

REFORM ROADBLOCKS: Legislation that would plug executive-friendly tax loopholes is already pending in Congress. But this legislation has stalled — and will likely remain stalled unless the November 2008 elections change current Congressional voting dynamics.

The Christian Science Monitor takes a broad look at the executive compensation issue:

How much?

Some 77 percent of Americans polled last year felt that corporate executives "earn too much." Most corporate boards apparently disagree. Last year, although the nation's economy was already in trouble, they gave the chief executive officers of the Standard & Poor's 500 largest companies on average a 2.6 percent pay hike to $10,544,470.

Why no action?

On the presidential campaign trail, both Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain attack the high levels of pay for corporate bosses, but are mostly fuzzy on remedies. Several bills before Congress would attempt to tame runaway executive pay. But none have passed both houses.

Politicians are "looking out" to protect the campaign contributions they receive from corporate executives, says Ms. Anderson. And it's an election year.

Are they worth the money?

A new study by economists Ulrike Malmendier at the University of California, Berkeley, and Geoffrey Tate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, Los Angeles, cast some doubt for some "CEO superstars." After gaining fame and prestigious awards from business magazines and others for their corporate performance, they are rewarded with even more pay. But in the next three years their firms underperform by 15 to 20 percent compared with firms of non-prize-winning executives.

Ms. Malmendier suspects the CEOs are too busy writing books, sitting on other company boards, taking prestigious public service jobs, and improving their golf handicaps.

From the Associated Press:

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) founder Larry Ellison, a longtime fixture on the list of the world's richest people, is now ensconced atop The Associated Press' rankings of the top-paid chief executives in the United States.

Never shy about flaunting his estimated $25 billion fortune, Ellison established himself as the best-paid CEO among major U.S. companies by persuading Oracle to award him a fiscal 2008 pay package valued at $84.6 million under the AP's calculations.

Though buyouts can be good for shareholders, the International Herald Tribune shows that the real benefits often go to executives:

August Busch IV, chief executive of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. will be paid nearly $10.4 million after the brewer is sold to InBev SA and $120,000 a month to consult for the new company through the end of 2013.

Terms of the consulting deal are currently being negotiated, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made Friday.

Busch, a member of the St. Louis-based brewer's founding family, will also be eligible for an additional payment of $13.3 million on various change in control payments and benefits, the filing said.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) became one of the most prominent players in an options backdating scandal where award dates were altered  to make them more profitable for executives.

In December, former UnitedHealth CEO William McGuire agreed to give-up a staggering $420 million in addition to $200 million he had already returned.

Now, according to the WSJ:

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday said a federal judge has little leeway to review or reject a stock-options backdating settlement between UnitedHealth and former Chief Executive William McGuire, increasing the likelihood that the deal will be approved.

In a rare major media story, the Associated Press does a straight CEO pay piece rather than a general look at the climate of executive compensation:

Stephen Sanger got a nearly 14 percent raise in his final year as the chairman and chief executive of General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS), according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sanger, who retired as head of the company that makes Wheaties and Cheerios cereals at the end of its fiscal 2008 year in May, earned $13.8 million, the filing said. That compared to earnings of $12.1 million in the previous year.

Sanger's base salary was nearly $1.3 million, and he also was given $3.5 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation for meeting financial targets, the regulatory filing said.

In addition, Sanger was given miscellaneous compensation of $470,701. This included company contributions to savings plans as well as perks valued at $192,184; those included $50,567 for personal air travel, $16,806 for use of the executive car and $40,200 in discounts when he bought the car. He was also given $15,054 for financial planning, $32,772 for insurance and $17,298 for unused vacation days.

The bulk of his compensation for the fiscal year was in stock and option awards valued at more than $8.5 million when they were granted in June 2007.