Thursday, Dec 10, 2009
S'not fair, scream bankers
FT: Bankers furious at UK bonus supertax
I'll leave here, no I really will. I mean it. Snivel.
Posted by letthemfall @ 12:26 PM (1959 views) Add Comment
19 Comments
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1. fallingbuzzard said...
My bonus is paid in June and deemed as part of my salary so I say tax the bankers as much as you want. The one good thing is that the employer levy should put an end to the practice of paying bonuses into accounts in other countries. Small fry though.
2. rumble said...
Am I missing something? I see this as a non-story. Delay bonus by four months. Is that complicated?
3. Fraccy said...
When the FED bill was introduced in 1913, various members of the banking community came out in staunch opposition. The idea was to fool the public into thinking the banks were being taken to task when in fact it was very much in their favour. Same again in my opinion, a nice little public slap on the wrist. They'll be queuing up with "outrage", but in fact its not a bad deal at all. Sentiment will soften towards them, public will for future far-reaching financial reform will wane, and the banks can carry on as they were.
4. timmy t said...
Webmaster - could you please remove rumble's comment. He's suggesting that these fine upstanding members of our community might look for ways to get around paying tax. It's scandalous
5. Neil B said...
All they will do is double the bonus payments so that they dont loose 50%
6. crunchy said...
2. rumble
Rubbish, they will need their bonuses to pay for Christmas.
7. Ah-so said...
The banks just need to pay an intermin bonus of £25k at year end followed by a 2nd bonus are 6 April 2010, all done while laughing hysterically at Darling.
8. Alfie said...
Lets put them on an open top bus and have a ticket tape parade for their farewell.
9. matt_the_hat said...
With hyperinflation on the way waiting 4 months could be more costly than taking a 50% hit
10. matt_the_hat said...
Btw does anyone else think we will have an election by April
11. mark wadsworth said...
Financial services. The UK's most successful "industry". So successful, they only needed an £850 billion bail out :)
As to this loony idea that bonuses should reflect risk, which risk exactly? The banker personally takes no risk whatsoever, and seeing as the banks were just betting with other banks, the net total risk taken by banks collectively was precisely nil.
12. rumble said...
Fraccy, exactly, just a lot of theatre.
13. tenant super said...
"The banks just need to pay an intermin bonus of £25k at year end followed by a 2nd bonus are 6 April 2010, all done while laughing hysterically at Darling".
I think an interim payment of £25k plus benefits-in-kind such as tens of thousands of pound gift vouchers will be made for Christmas. Everything else will be paid on 6th April. Unless the specific 'anti avoidance measures' which were mentioned but not detailed include extending this to the forseeable future for any bonuses which could be reasonably deemed as retrospective.
14. 51ck-6-51x said...
tenant super,
How about paying the bonus in Gilts? Two birds, one stone.
15. mountain goat said...
Fraccy - exactly. 12 months ago the banks got a £800 billion bailout and this tax raises £0.55 billion.
Politics to take attention from the real problem -
"over the next 4 years, the government’s (overly optimistic) forecasts for the public finances show that borrowing will rise by over 40% of GDP. That is the issue and it was neglected in favour of attacking bankers." FT Alphaville - ‘Alistair in Wonderland’
16. Panda said...
I remember so well in the Tetcher years... people on their last legs because of interest rates and tax increases; who were behind financially so far that effectively it was one week from bankruptcy - woud vote as a man for the witch.
Nothing has changed.
There is a huge need in the soul of Britain to be s**t on and if anything, it's got worse. Poor bankers! I bet the re will be overwhelming sympathy and charity fundraising, even before Christmas.
17. Hpwatcher said...
Btw does anyone else think we will have an election by April
Apparently the election will be on May 6th.
18. letthemfall said...
On the other hand, also in the FT, but not the blog section, which is usually written by VIs:
"Banks’ current profits have less to do with skill than with access to free loans from central banks and implicit subsidies from governments unwilling to let large banks fail. These profits serve the public interest only if they pad capital cushions, not bankers’ wallets.
A one-off bonus tax would therefore not be improper; indeed if by satisfying voters’ demand for fairness it boosted support for reforms of our broken financial system, it could be a laudable move."
19. Dave said...
I thought tax rates in the U.K. were around 50% anyway. Why all the sudden complaining?