An economics researcher says record-breaking CEO compensation figures should spark a conversation about tax policies affecting Canada’s highest corporate earners.

Canada’s highest-earning executives were paid 246 times more than the average worker in 2022, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

The top 100 CEOs took home average salaries of $14.9 million in 2022, setting a new record.

David Macdonald, senior economist with the CCPA and author of the report, told BNN Bloomberg many of the highest-earning CEOs fill most of their salaries with vast sums of share awards are meant to incentivize CEO performance.

However, Macdonald’s research showed that stocks at companies run by upper-echelon earners have largely declined over the past two years, suggesting high salaries don’t necessarily translate to better stock performance.

“Just because you’re paying your CEO top amounts, it might be good for them, but it’s not necessarily great for the shareholders,” Macdonald said in a Tuesday television interview.

TAX CONSIDERATIONS

The CCPA’s report found awarding shares to CEOs has emerged as the most popular pay option in recent years, as stock options and salaries have more tax implications.

Macdonald said he hopes the report raises alarm bells about tax incentives for the richest Canadians.

“I think a lot of Canadians are upset CEOs get paid so much and CEO work is valued so much more than the work of average workers,” Macdonald said.

“We don’t have to like it, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to tax it and certainly we shouldn’t be giving tax subsidies to some of the richest people in the country.”

HIGH SALARIES REFLECT ‘UNIQUE TALENTS’: PROF

Ian Lee, an associate professor of management at Carleton University, made the case that CEOs are “superstars” in their fields and said their high compensation levels reflect their skills and expertise.

“There are some people with very, very unique talents, whether they’re Hollywood movie stars or musicians or football players or hockey players … or CEOs that have the very, very unique skills and they’re not substitutional,” Lee told BNNBloomberg.ca in a Tuesday phone interview.

“The vast majority of us are not Beyonce or Taylor Swift or Patrick Mahomes or Sidney Crosby.”