I assume you pay income taxes on it then to the IRS? If you don't, it's not income - though you can call it whatever you want, just like you can call that huge refrigerator strapped onto your roll-aboard/shopping cart a 'travel cooler' rather than a embarrassing representation of how your employer values you no more than a entry-level worker in food service, aka a F/A.

There is no shortage of pilots. There will always be a shortage of qualified pilots.

If the total compensation package came up, more qualified pilots would come back into the market, rather than using their same skill-set to manage people in another industry.