I’m becoming a populist on this issue. You just shouldn’t be able to keep lotto winnings when other taxpayers pay for your ticket. These nitwits have no conscience.
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Excerpted from WSJ: Banks’ Bonuses Hit by 50% Levy in U.K., Dec. 10, 2009
The U.K. slapped banks with a 50% tax on some bonuses they pay to individuals, in perhaps the most aggressive move yet by a government to rein in banking compensation after the financial crisis.
The tax is an effort by the ruling Labour Party to address public anger over bank bonus pay ahead of next year’s general election.
The U.K. bonus tax will be paid by banks on discretionary individual bonuses that exceed £25,000 ($41,000).
For instance, if a bank pays an individual a bonus of £30,000, it would pay a 50% tax on the £5,000 portion over the threshold.
The individual’s income tax wouldn’t be affected.
The government says the driving idea behind the tax is to end the banking industry’s culture of compensating risk-takers and to push down bonuses so that banks retain more capital and step up lending.
Treasury chief Alistair Darling said “If they insist on paying substantial rewards, I am determined to claw money back for the taxpayer,” he said.
But the new tax applies only to discretionary and not contractual bonuses. Banks will avoid the charge, then, for payments to any banker whose bonuses are guaranteed by contract. Banks operating in the U.K. plan to pay about $6 billion in bonuses this year, about $1 billion of which is discretionary, as opposed to bonuses guaranteed to bankers by contract.
In addition to the new tax on pay, bankers will be hit by an increase on income tax. Those who earn above £150,000 are already set to see their tax rate rise to 50% from 40% in April.
“Sending out a message that the U.K. does not welcome high earners will be music to the ears of rival global financial centers.”
Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB126035896213083357-lMyQjAxMDI5NjAwOTMwNTk4Wj.html
The Homa Files 
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