It seems to me that company employees should get their compensation mostly in salary, with some profit-sharing thrown in as an incentive (in the form of stock or cash), and some small fraction in other benefits (a Thanksgiving turkey, deeply discounted merchandise or meals in the company cafeteria, etc.). Businesses shouldn't be providing lodging, entertainment, etc., etc. except in hardship cases (e.g. for branches in foreign lands, etc.).

(Heading off on a tangent...)

The tax system shouldn't be structured to prefer non-salary compensation because it introduces complications and makes things less transparent. What's the use of a corporate a Central Park West apartment decorated with Van Goghs worth? Why shouldn't the owners of the company and the employees benefit just as much from the company's success?

I don't buy the argument that corporate executives need to be paid tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in total annual compensation for a company to be successful. I think the objective evidence is that [link|http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4526.html|executive compensation has almost nothing to do with actual success of the company].

Cheers,
Scott.