Comment by alexlongterm

^^^ this. In fact in the US the IRS will flag abnormally high salaries for small businesses (millions per individual) if no or very few dividends are paid out because income tax is less favorable to the government in the total amount the IRS receives when looking at multi million dollar salaries. Beyond the first $110kish FICA stops making a dent as social security caps out. I'm sure there are possible loopholes for very wealthy individuals but this article doesn't detail them and I'm not familiar with them either. This is the opposite of other places like Sweden where high income tax and low business taxes make dividends very favorable, and the tax authorities there will question paying dividends at too low of income levels.