&gt;Yeah, I generally look at it as legitimate compensation rather than a kickback.<p>But, to the extent that it&#x27;s a way to circumvent taxes, it&#x27;s not so legitimate -- it&#x27;s a way of providing a private gain [1] that works as compensation but which isn&#x27;t taxed.  When you have marginal tax rates on high income workers hitting ~50% [2], that&#x27;s a pretty big incentive for tax-free compensation!  (And, IMHO is also an argument for reducing them, since they cause such distortionary collateral damage.)<p>[1] Don&#x27;t know the specific jargon the tax code uses for &quot;something that really ought to be taxed if we want to be consistent&quot;<p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jcfny.org&#x2F;effective-top-marginal-income-tax-rates&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jcfny.org&#x2F;effective-top-marginal-income-tax-rate...</a>