THE CORPORATE CEO – PRINCE OF PORKS – by Sarah Anderson

Regulators had hoped that new, stricter reporting requirements might help pull executive pay down from the stratosphere. Instead, overall pay levels continued to rise last year. According to the "Wall Street Journal," median total compensation for big company chief executives rose 8.9 percent to $6.5 million.

Rather than reining in pay, the new disclosure rules have merely exposed more details of the lifestyles of the corporate rich and famous. In particular, expanded information on executive perks reveals just how far removed top executives are from the lives of ordinary Americans.

Take tax work, for example. The rest of us turn to accountant in-laws, or maybe the local H&R Block, when we need help with our tax forms. Corporate leaders, on the other hand, typically receive thousands of dollars from their companies to cover the cost of tax return preparation and personal financial planning. Dow Chemical and Electronic Data Systems, for example, reimbursed each of their top executives about $40,000 last year for personal financial help.

Moving from one city to another is a hassle for anybody. But few need as much help as new Boeing CEO James McNerney. Last year the company reimbursed him $1.1 million to move the 400 or so miles from Minnesota (where he headed up 3M) to the aerospace giant's Chicago headquarters.

Some of the money for his relocation likely came out of taxpayers' pockets, since Boeing is the nation's No. 2 defense contractor, with $19 billion in Pentagon revenues in 2005. Incidentally, McNerney could hardly claim economic hardship, having sold his Minnesota home for $6.45 million.

To protect ourselves, the rest of us avoid dark streets, lock our car doors and wear money belts on vacation. For CEOs, it's not unusual to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for personal and home security. JP Morgan Chase Chairman William B. Harrison, Jr., was one of the most insecure executives last year. The financial services firm had to lay out $760,900 to keep him safe, including $224,405 for personal trips aboard the corporate jet, as required by the company's security policy.

Corporate boards justify these perks by claiming that they help keep leaders focused on their job responsibilities without unnecessary distraction. Yet giving an executive hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for personal air travel hardly seems like a good way to keep his nose to the grindstone.

The solution to runaway CEO pay is not more disclosure. One way Congress could make real change is by eliminating the incentives for paying such outrageous sums. Right now, there are no meaningful limits on how much companies can deduct from their taxes for executive pay. Thus, when companies claim massive deductions for their leaders' travel expenses, tax help and other personal expenses, the rest of us taxpayers get stuck with the bill.

Why not say that nothing above $1 million is tax deductible? Companies could still pay their leaders as much as they want, but the rest of us wouldn't be subsidizing it.

Thus, if corporate boards still wanted to treat their leaders like royalty, they would at least have to pay the full consequences.