Rushing To Beat the Taxman

The well-heeled crowd is finding ways to avoid the increases Clinton | plans to ask for next year. His aides say the Treasury will still get the money it needs.

The feat was worthy of the genie in Aladdin. In the twinkling of an eye, Disney chairman Michael Eisner and president Frank Wells last week turned 7 million stock options into a $263 million profit, one of the richest corporate paydays ever. Eisner alone raked in $202 million. The executives cashed in their options, which were set to expire in 1994, to avoid the tax increases that Bill Clinton has pledged to ask Congress for next year. While both men were staunch Clinton supporters, his proposed tax on wealthy individuals could have cost them an extra $20 million if they had...

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