The arrogance of Wall Street institutions is beyond belief. They screw up big time and throw our country into the "Great Recession," which could have become another "Great Depression" had not the taxpayers bailed them out. And now at the end of the year, they want to give themselves huge bonuses whereas in fact they are fortunate to have jobs at all, let alone receive bonuses on top of their already-large salaries.
Since it is the government's money they are using, it is only just and appropriate that, if they give themselves these bonuses, the bonuses should be taxed as windfall profits, if not more. The poor grocery clerk who has the good fortune to buy a winning lottery ticket is taxed over and above her normal tax, the windfall profits tax, but these guys who have been bailed out by the government insist that they should not be taxed for these windfall bonuses they are giving themselves.
And the really disgusting aspect is that apparently neither the Obama administration nor the congress is willing to step up to the plate and require such a tax.
Meanwhile, Great Britain, in a similar situation, is quite willing to tax such arrogant behavior.
"Alistair Darling, the U.K.'s Chancellor of the Exchequer -- sort of like a Treasury Secretary, but with more pluck -- announced today that he will impose an immediate, one-time 50-percent tax on bonuses of more than 25,000 pounds (about $40,800). That's on top of regular income taxes." (Huffington Post)
If our financial institutions are not forced to play fair now, they will do as they please and run rough-shod over the interests of our democracy.
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