Bill taxes big companies with huge CEO pay gaps.
S. 5011 — Curtailing Executive Overcompensation (CEO) Act · Filed by Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 16, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill puts a 1% tax on large companies. It applies when the CEO makes more than 50 times what the average worker makes. Only companies with at least $100 million in yearly revenue qualify. The tax amount is based on how big the pay gap is. The threshold goes up each year to match inflation.
Who it affects
Large companies with very high CEO pay would owe the tax. Small and mid-size companies are not affected. Workers at large companies might benefit if companies lower CEO pay.
One thing to notice
The tax only applies if CEO pay exceeds 50 times the average worker pay. Many big companies today have CEO pay 200 to 400 times higher than worker pay.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Democrats.
- Jul 16, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 16, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- average worker — The middle wage when all worker pay is lined up from lowest to highest.
- inflation — When prices go up over time, so money buys less than before.
- threshold — A set point or level that must be reached to trigger a rule.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,206 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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