A lot of people don't understand why CEOs make so much money. It's very simple. You can outsource manual labor jobs to anywhere in the world. You can train most uneducated 3rd world country workers to do high quality work at a much lower cost. You cannot, and you never will be able to, replace your CEO with a budget CEO or a cheaper equivalent. Any one that thinks all CEOs are created equal just need to look at the failing companies like HP or MF Global, etc. Your CEO make or break you.
Is it fair that failing CEOs get a golden parachute to leave? No. However, most companies have performance based compensation now. The market will adjust if you leave it alone. Your business won't survive if you keep paying bad CEOs big sums of money to fail.
Taxes... Ummm... Show of hands, anyone here goes to your accountant or tax preparer and tell them that you or your business wants pay the largest sum possible?
Anyone?
Of course they're going to take every deduction...just like you take very deduction.