2013 CEO compensation: $9 million
2013 General Motors federal income tax bottom line: $34 million refund

Like Citigroup, General Motors (GM) was bailed out by the federal Troubled Asset Recovery Program (TARP) and allowed to retain its losses so that it could reduce future tax bills. But unlike Citigroup, GM never fully repaid its loan from taxpayers: U.S taxpayers failed to recoup $11.2 billion of their investment in GM. One of the conditions of receiving a TARP loan was that executive compensation be reviewed by federal regulators and cash compensation capped at $500,000 per executive. A recent report from the Inspector General overseeing pay at TARP companies found that Treasury officials have failed to properly control pay at GM. Last year, Treasury regulators approved at least $1 million in pay for each of GM’s 25 highest-paid employees, in violation of the law’s intent to limit cash compensation to no more than $500,000.