This is the biggest robbery in history
 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House is scheduled to vote today on a bill that would levy a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to employees with family incomes above $250,000 at companies that have received at least $5 billion in government bailout money.

So, think of what this mean. Say Im a computer programmer, working at bank of America, making 75K per year and get a 15k bonus, my wife is a lawyer making 180k per year. This proposal will TAX MY BONUS BY 90% !!!!!!!!!!!
Are you fuc$king kidding me! This is ROBBERY!!! I never in my life imagined that a democratic controlled government could be this insane.
You libs approve of this???????????

sure I do. If ancompany that is too big to fail (what ever that means) drove its self into the ground and needs to be bailed out.. why should you get a bonus? Or more specifically, why should you be rewarded for failure?

The government PUSHED much of this money on the banks, they did not ask for it! BOFA and Citibank are profitable!
you have no clue how incredibly large and diverse these companies are and less that 3% of the employees had ANYTHING to do with the current problem. This is everyone based on FAMILY income! Nebe, the government has no right to do this. Should we be taxing cigarette and alcohol companies bonuses too? How much have they cost Americans in health care and lives???? You are shooting people that have made this country what it is. Look how awesome online banking is! How much "green" is the current paperless process pushed by these banks? Look at all the innovations! Nothing to do with mortgages. You're proposing all these people get screwed!
yet there is not punishment for the morons that took on more loand than they can afford! I am embarrased to be American.

Because maybe your department met it's agreed upon goals. Nebe, you need to come over to the real world, it sucks over here.

Im in financial services, we got 0 bailout money, different lines of busines, last Novemebr, my team and much of my organization got hit with a layoff, we lost 50% of our team. We our bonuses were slashed over 30%. Every Christmas, my entire bulding does the sponsor for Adopt a Family. So we lost 1/2 our team and 30% of REAL money. What was the impact on the adopt a family? On the day we all bring in our gifts, you couldnt walk downstairs, the entire floor was full of bicycles, clothes and gifts. It was the highest leve of participation ever! You guys would have cried at the generosity.
My wife used to work for B of A in San Francisco, she was sposnored for AIDs walks, clothing drives, and other charity events by B of A.
yet this government is going to screw these people while REWARDING people who dont work (via the stimulsu plan) or people WHO dont work hard to send their kids to college. Im done. Obamerica sucks ass.

In all seriousness, this bonus fiasco is a smoke screen...

AIG's bonuses totalled 1 % of the money they received and I could care less about it.

This country is so screwed that people cant see the Forrest from the trees.

Nebe, are you coming over to the dark side?

They weren't turning a profit at the end of last year there Jimmy. In fact many thought they were about to collapse.

If you don't like the tax proposal, don't file jointly. Personally I think it's a dumb solution to the problem. The government should just yank the bonus money and let them fight it out in court. I doubt most would.

-spence

not on reveue, spence, on the accounting for the mortgages. big, big difference

What's a bonus?

beats me.. I dont work for anyone... :huh:

it just passed the house. this is the most disgusting thing that has happened in government in my lifetime. What a slap in the face of peope WHO HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE CRISIS and worked overtime, weekends. The media is focusing on AIG, but this is ALL firms that took bailout $! Even if they didnt pay one single dime of the bonus money from taxpayer money!
The government takes the money they earned, taxes them more, allows for less deductions. Kids, dont work hard and make over 250K, thats the governments magic number when the hold you down, rape you and steal your money. I want to puke.

Wait until it hits all companies that reap contracts from the "stimulas bill" That is coming. This is bad, bad news for America. This is happening faster then even I predicted.

How's this whole "Dems in charge" thing working out? Please don't tell me we have to give it time. I've seen plenty.

How much you want to bet this never becomes law?

-spence

And if it does, there's a pretty good chance that the courts will find it to be an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder.

They know it's unconstitutional and yet the push ahead. If it doesn't become law then whats the point? I think they figured out a whole new way to kill the Dow rebound. Well done Dems.

The House legislation calls for a 90% surtax to be imposed on any bonus paid after Dec. 31, 2008, by a company that received $5 billion or more in taxpayer dollars from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The tax would need to be paid by any employee or former employee whose family income exceeds $250,000 ($125,000 for married recipients filing separately).
Here's how it would work: Affected individuals would calculate what their federal tax bill would be without the bonus and then add to that amount 90% of the total bonus received, said Tom Ochsenschlager, vice president of taxation at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
They'd need to add another 1.45% for the Medicare tax owed on the bonus, said David Lifson, president of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.


http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/19/news...ion=2009031918

On top of that, they would have to pay regular state and local income tax. That won't leave much in the wallet.
In fact, after factoring in state and local taxes, some people would end up owing more than they got.
"A New York City resident would have a tax greater than the bonus," Lifson said.




Did the Yankees have to take TARP Money?

I want to puke too. Why don't the crybabies from AIG who ran their company into the ground come over to my house so I can hand them the 40 grand or so we pay in taxes. Because I love to see my hard earned money pissed away on the bailout of AIG. It has been bad enough watching it wasted on some BS war in Iraq, now we have this crap. I hope they will be okay I would hate to see someone lose their yacht or vacation home just because their poorly run, bumbling, insolvent company ran itself into the ground. Maybe we should start an AIG bonus charity.

Duke, you're listenting to the voice of the lynch mob and not reality. This is NOT only AIG, its all TARP money. Bank of AMerica, JP Morgan and many other banks were not going out of business. The TARP money was not for payroll, but to allow more credit into the market place. Many of their business lines were extremely profitable! This is not "executives" as they are leading you to beleive. This is FAMILY income. So if someone makes 50K at Bank of America and gets a 5K bonus, and their spouse is a CPA and makes 200K per year, that B of A employee will get that bonus taxed 90%. Think of the legal issues this causes! That person will "make" less money than their coworkers. How can you have people in the same job getting paid different salaries? How can these banks know what the "family" income is?
Banks and financial services are hardest hit by layoffs. However, there is no reduction in the work! So people are working overtime, which they dont get paid for, to make up for the lack of employees. Now, if you take away the bonus opportunity, why would they work extra? Whats the incentive for anyone at JP Morgan, Citibank, Wells, B of A. to work hard? How are "your tax dollars" going to benefit if these companies arent productive? This has ripple effects that our brilliant congressmen spent 40 minutes to debate. If you think your tax dollars are wasted on the bonuses, wait until you see the waste on legal fees. In the end, this moves NO ONE forward. It will hurt productivity in an industry that needs to move this economy forward.

Nevermind that fact that the US Government HAS NO LEGAL RIGHT TO DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really do not want to hand my money you or anyone else no matter how hard they work. My family comes first. My company blew up during the dot com bust. I was laid off along with 250 other hardworking brilliant people, most with families. No one bailed us out, Bush said "tough sh$t get a job". I searched for 8 months for a real job back in operations. No one would touch a dot com guy. So I switched careers and became a real estate broker. I have worked my ass off and now finally am getting close to where I was in 1999. Bonuses, you have to be %$%$%$%$ing kidding me. My bonus was you can keep your laptop kid. Don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out. Bonuses WTF at least they have a job.

seems like your bitter about our own personal situation. No one is asking you to hand out anything, except the goverment whihc is handing out billions of your money. Like it or not, these corporations are not subject to your beliefs unless you are a shareholder. Their employees, like all employees have indivusual agreements with their employer. the government made NO, NONE, NADA agreement as part of the TARP arrangement. TARP was not made to help teh banks but to use the banks as vehicles to pump cash into the market

Jimmy this is socialism. The government has to constantly raise funds, other peoples funds, to support thier programs.

FINALLY! someone is getting to the REAL issue with this Bonus bill!
This is what the nightly news, CNN and other outlets should be highlighting. Not teh reactionary BS from the govt.
Please read this

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker...=TBD&ccode=TBD

Yeah, WOW. Glad my wife decided civil litigation and 3500 hour years wasn't her lifestyle. But they didn't take TARP.

You are right about that, and wasn't one of the excuses the Administration gave for sneaking in, under the cover of darkness, the allowance of giving out the bonuses was because they were afraid all the brilliant people would leave unless they got a bonus?

Brilliant thinking, leave??????? Where would they go, what financial or insurance companies are hiring?????????

Utterly ridiculous.

Seems to me that these bonuses are incentive for further failure. Rewards for a job poorly done. Also they are taking the money from me, the taxpayer. I have no performance contract with these "best and brightest" failures. I say no bonus. You get no reward for manipulating the finances of this country solely to line your own pockets. You get no bonus for all the lost jobs, ruined retirements, ended educations and foreclosed homes. Bonus!? For all that? You should get life in prison. Egotistical, smug , self entitled theiving MFers.

Amen, Fred.