2013 CEO compensation: $23 million
2013 Boeing federal income tax bottom line: $82 million refund

Few companies are as dependent on U.S. taxpayers as Boeing. The aircraft giant is the nation’s second-largest federal contractor, hauling in more than $20 billion in contracts last year. As the largest beneficiary of the federal Export-Import Bank, Boeing relies on taxpayers to help finance its overseas sales. In 2013, the Ex-Im financed $37 billion in export deals, $8 billion of which went to customers of Boeing.

Federal taxpayers also help Boeing pay for research and development costs. Last year, the federal research and exploration tax credit delivered about $300 million to subsidize Boeing’s research efforts.

Taxpayers have received little in return for all this largesse. Last year, the firm had nearly $6 billion in pre-tax U.S. profits and yet received $82 million in tax refunds from Uncle Sam. Over the last dozen years, Boeing reported $43 billion in profits to shareholders while claiming $1.6 billion in refunds from the IRS. Boeing CEO W. James McNerney, Jr., a regular on the highest-paid lists, took home $23.3 million last year.

Boeing saved more than $200 million in federal and state taxes between 2008 and 2012 thanks to a loophole that allows corporations to report different values for employee stock options to shareholders and tax authorities. McNerney was also personally able to avoid income taxes on $123,000 of his 2013 compensation that he placed in his Boeing deferred compensation retirement account. Unlike ordinary workers who face a $24,000 annual limit on contributions to company retirement plans, CEOs face no such limits.