Before packing up the beach chairs, imagine your perfect job.

How about an employer that pays well and includes personal use of the corporate jetfi What about a multi-million dollar bonus -- plus additional cash to pay taxes on the extra incomefi Need to relocatefi Perhaps a moving allowance of $2,600 a mile to haul your load up the road.

This is a joke, rightfi Not if you're a corporate CEO in the Neverland of perks and pleasures.

While most of us dream of basic job security and health coverage, these guys are fleecing shareholders, employees and taxpayers with their stealth compensation packages.

Thanks to a 2006 government rule, corporations must now disclose the dollar value of previously hidden perks.

Call it the "Jack Welch Disclosure Act," in tribute to General Electric's retired CEO. A messy divorce in 2002 forced Welch to reveal his voluminous perks including country club fees, use of an $80,000 a month luxury Manhattan apartment, personal use of a private jet and season tickets to the Red Sox, Yankees and Knicks -- plus court-side seats at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open tennis tournaments.

Executive compensation experts believe more information and scrutiny will force corporate boards to eventually rein in perk excess. Don't hold your breath. In 2006, the perks for a Fortune 500 CEO averaged $438,342. It would take 36 years for a minimum-wage worker to earn that amount.

The perk porker of the year is Chad Dreier, the CEO of the Ryland Group, a homebuilding and mortgage company. Dreier received perks valued at $6.9 million including personal use of the company jet, life insurance, tax payments, reimbursement for out-of-pocket medical care and $80,000 for "personal health and services allowance."

Personal travel on the corporate jet is a preferred perk. George David, CEO of United Technologies, logged $612,303 worth of personal jet time. Michael Jeffries, the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, stretched out for $776,723 worth of extra leg room. That's $2,126 a day, which could get you once around the planet on a commercial carrier.

Some companies consider the jet perk as unethical. Costco CEO Jim Sinegal reimbursed his company $62,463 for personal use of the corporate jet, stating that is "just the way we are."

Starwood Corp., the hotel and casino conglomerate, eased the long commute for CEO Steven J. Heyer with a $1,742,522 reimbursement. Boeing CEO James W. McNerney received $1,059,706 for relocation expenses. He moved 401 miles from Maplewood, Minn., to Chicago, at a cost of $2,643 per mile.

Some corporations even covered their CEO's obligations to Uncle Sam. Public Storage Inc. paid CEO Ronald Havner Jr.'s $2.6 million tax bill on a $6.4 million bonus.

These perks are even more unseemly when many U.S. companies are cutting employee health insurance benefits and eliminating pension contributions.

Skyrocketing CEO perks and pay need to return to earth. Shining a light is only the first step in reforming corporate pay policies. Congress should go beyond disclosure to eliminate tax incentives for bloated salaries and perks.

Rep. Barbara Lee of California is promoting legislation that would limit the amount a corporation can deduct for excessive compensation to 25 times whatever they pay their lowest paid worker. Companies could still pay their CEOs whatever they wanted, but would have to pay taxes on excessive amounts.

Our congressional representatives should be lining up to co-sponsor Lee's Income Equity Act as a critical step toward restoring perk and pay parity.

Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and co-author of the new report "Executive Excess 2007: The Staggering Social Cost of U.S. Corporate Leadership."

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A5.

Do you agree?