Tax is supposedly deferred until the contract is settled.

FORBES: The Lauders did it. So did Craig McCaw and Ronald Perelman.

The idea of deferred gratification, which is inherent in that implicit pension contract, has been beyond our comprehension.

FORBES: Opinion

As part of his employee contract with the Irish company, most of his salary is diverted into a nonqualified deferred-compensation plan, and held in a so-called Rabbi trust in a Caribbean tax haven, where it grows tax free.

FORBES: U.S. tax rackets