Overpaid CEOs Are the Wrong Target for Affordability Warriors

If companies won’t pay their workers a living wage, the government will try to do it for them. I laid out this argument in a 2019 column and have since watched with dismay as ever more counterproductive policies are proposed — and some adopted — around the country to address affordability. These range from millionaire taxes and rent control to government-run grocery stores and credit card interest rate caps.

Add to the list two misguided California referenda slated for later this year. In June, San Francisco voters will decide on the Overpaid CEO Act, which would raise taxes on large companies whose chief executives make more than 100 times their median worker’s salary. The other, a ballot initiative that will likely be put to California voters in November, proposes a one-time 5% tax on billionaires.