Super tax on bankers’ bonuses spreading
(14 December 2009 – Europe) The British super tax on banker bonuses unveiled recently has received crucial backing from France.
In a jointly signed article for the Wall Street Journal, British Prime Minster, Gordon Brown and French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, said that world leaders must impose tougher limits on remuneration, particularly given that bonuses received for 2009 have only been possible due to the government support that banks received during the global financial crisis.
Last week, the British government announced that in an effort to recoup some of the cash spent on revitalising the financial sector, during the global financial crisis, they would be imposing a one-off 50 percent tax penalty on bonuses over £25,000 (A$43,000).
The one-off ‘bank payroll tax’ will only raise around £550 million; the National Audit Office has calculated that the bailouts cost the government around £850 billion.
Now the British government has led the way, Mr Sarkozy, has adopted a similar policy for France; Mr Sarkozy and his German counterpart, Angela Merkel, have previously made public appeals for global taxes to be imposed on bankers’ bonuses.
The pair see the need for the tax regulations to be global, in an effort to stop a mass exodus of finance sector workers exiting one country in favour of another country that has a more favourable tax regime.
Last week, the British government announced that in an effort to recoup some of the cash spent on revitalising the financial sector, during the global financial crisis, they would be imposing a one-off 50 percent tax penalty on bonuses over £25,000 (A$43,000).
The one-off ‘bank payroll tax’ will only raise around £550 million; the National Audit Office has calculated that the bailouts cost the government around £850 billion.
Now the British government has led the way, Mr Sarkozy, has adopted a similar policy for France; Mr Sarkozy and his German counterpart, Angela Merkel, have previously made public appeals for global taxes to be imposed on bankers’ bonuses.
The pair see the need for the tax regulations to be global, in an effort to stop a mass exodus of finance sector workers exiting one country in favour of another country that has a more favourable tax regime.
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