II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2445 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose a surtax on 

corporations with significant disparities in employee wages. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 

Mr. MERKLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose 

a surtax on corporations with significant disparities in 

employee wages. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Share for Work5 ers Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SURTAX ON CORPORATIONS WITH SIGNIFICANT 

7 DISPARITY IN EMPLOYEE WAGES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of subchapter A of chap9 ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 


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•S 2445 IS

1 by redesignating section 12 as section 13 and by inserting 

2 after section 11 the following new section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 12. SURTAX ON CORPORATIONS WITH SIGNIFICANT 

4 DISPARITY IN EMPLOYEE WAGES. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an applicable cor6 poration, there is hereby imposed (in addition to any other 

7 tax imposed by this subtitle) a tax equal to the applicable 

8 percentage of taxable income. 

9 ‘‘(b) APPLICABLE CORPORATION.—For purposes of 

10 this section, the term ‘applicable corporation’ means any 

11 corporation which— 

12 ‘‘(1) has gross revenue for the taxable year in 

13 excess of $1,000,000,000, and 

14 ‘‘(2) has a wage disparity level in excess of 

15 3,000 percent. 

16 ‘‘(c) APPLICABLE PERCENTAGE.—For purpose of 

17 this section, the applicable percentage shall be determined 

18 as follows: 

‘‘In the case of an applicable corporation 

with a wage disparity level that is— 

The 

applicable 

percentage 

is— 

Over 3,000 percent but not over 5,000 percent ............................. 2%

Over 5,000 percent but not over 10,000 percent ........................... 3%

Over 10,000 percent but not over 20,000 percent ......................... 4%

Over 20,000 percent but not over 50,000 percent ......................... 5%

Over 50,000 percent but not over 100,000 percent ....................... 6%

Over 100,000 percent ..................................................................... 10%. 


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1 ‘‘(d) WAGE DISPARITY LEVEL.—For purposes of this 

2 section— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘wage disparity 

4 level’ means the ratio (expressed as a percentage) of 

5 the annual salary of highest compensated officer of 

6 the corporation to the median annual salary of all 

7 employees of the corporation. 

8 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF ANNUAL SALARY.— 

9 The annual salary of any officer or employee shall 

10 be determined by taking into account the wages 

11 (within the meaning of section 3121(a), but deter12 mined without regard to any dollar limitation con13 tained in such section) paid to such officer or em14 ployee for services performed during the taxable 

15 year. In the case of any officer or employee who is 

16 not employed for the entire taxable year, the wages 

17 paid for such taxable year shall be increased by an 

18 amount equal to the product of the average daily 

19 wages paid to such employees for the number of 

20 days during the taxable year during which such em21 ployee was employed and the number of days during 

22 the taxable year during which such employee was 

23 not so employed. 

24 ‘‘(e) EXCEPTIONS; TREATMENT OF FOREIGN COR25 PORATIONS.—Rules similar to the rules of subsections (c) 


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1 and (d) of section 11 shall apply for purposes of this sec2 tion.’’. 

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

4 for part II of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code 

5 is amended by redesignating the item relating to section 

6 12 as relating to section 13 and by inserting after the item 

7 relating to section 11 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 12. Surtax on corporations with significant disparity in employee wages.’’. 

8 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

9 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

10 December 31, 2019. 

Æ 


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