Clawing Back those Bankers' Bonuses
Thursday February 12, 2009
A provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 gives banks that received federal bailout funds and then used it to pay their top executives over $18.4 billion in bonuses a choice: either pay it back or pay it back.
Under a so-called "clawback" amendment sponsored by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), the banks would be required to either immediately pay back any bonuses of over $100,000 or pay a 35% excise tax on any amount not immediately paid back.
According to Sen. Wyden, it should have been clear to the banks that the taxpayers' money was never intended to be used to pay their employee bonuses. "ut once again financial institutions have taken advantage of lax regulation and the public trust," he stated in a press release. "The American people are demanding that these firms get serious about getting our economy back on track, but if the public's voices are ignored, Congress has to show that it is willing to step in until they get the message."
"By requiring the firms to return TARP funds used to pay big bonuses, this amendment insists on strong taxpayer protections and guarantees that no tax dollars be used to prop up Wall Street executives," said Sen. Snowe.
The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the Snowe-Wyden Amendment will recover as much as $3.2 billion.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2009/02...nuses.htm?nl=1
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Wondering how this is going to be accomplished.
Thursday February 12, 2009
A provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 gives banks that received federal bailout funds and then used it to pay their top executives over $18.4 billion in bonuses a choice: either pay it back or pay it back.
Under a so-called "clawback" amendment sponsored by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), the banks would be required to either immediately pay back any bonuses of over $100,000 or pay a 35% excise tax on any amount not immediately paid back.
According to Sen. Wyden, it should have been clear to the banks that the taxpayers' money was never intended to be used to pay their employee bonuses. "ut once again financial institutions have taken advantage of lax regulation and the public trust," he stated in a press release. "The American people are demanding that these firms get serious about getting our economy back on track, but if the public's voices are ignored, Congress has to show that it is willing to step in until they get the message."
"By requiring the firms to return TARP funds used to pay big bonuses, this amendment insists on strong taxpayer protections and guarantees that no tax dollars be used to prop up Wall Street executives," said Sen. Snowe.
The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the Snowe-Wyden Amendment will recover as much as $3.2 billion.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2009/02...nuses.htm?nl=1
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Wondering how this is going to be accomplished.
