Top executives at banks that have been given a US government bailout will be hit with a 90 per cent tax on any bonuses they receive, the US House of Representatives determined this week.
According to the new bill, the 90 per cent tax will be imposed on all employees whose total annual pay was more than $250,000 if their firm received in excess of $5 billion in government rescue packages.
The legislation was sparked by news that AIG - which is currently 80 per cent government-owned and has received upwards of $182 billion in bailout funding - had paid some $165 billion to its top executives, some of whom were responsible for the insurer's failings.
In addition to AIG, employees at Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae would also be covered under the new tax legislation, the Dallas News reported.
But Rick Newman, writing for US News & World Report, suggested that a government bailout for AIG may have been preferable to letting the firm collapse - with AIG stating that its failure could have a more damaging impact than the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment