Monitoring Executive Compensation

The attention being given these days by various federal regulatory agencies to the subject of executive compensation is healthy. However, the variety of circumstances in which such scrutiny is warranted, as well as the difficulties of monitoring those circumstances and fashioning consistently appropriate standards, are likely to render the effort piecemeal, unpopular, and potentially counterproductive. Wouldn't it be fairer, simpler, and more effective to instead reenact a meaningfully progressive income tax structure, such as the nation had during much of the twentieth century, when -- not incidentally -- prosperity was more evenly shared among all the people than it has been in recent times?