rssWyden-Snowe Executive Pay Limits — The Enhanced Version
Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 6:10 pm
- 3 Comments
When the White House economic team last month rejected a Senate-passed stimulus amendment that would have taxed bailed-out companies at 35 percent for 2008 bonuses, sponsor Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) vowed he’d be back later for another try.
Today, he made good on that promise.
Wyden, along with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Senate Finance Committee leaders Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), re-introduced the bonus-tax proposal this afternoon — complete with enhancements.
For example, the original bill applied the 35 percent tax only to the companies that distributed the bonuses, while the newer bill would also slap that tax on the employees who received them (Total tax = 70 percent). Also, the first proposal applied the tax only to bonuses in excess of $100,000, while the latest version lowers that floor to $50,000. The provisions would apply only to banks that have accepted more than $100 million in bailout funding (and still have at least that much outstanding).
“I wish we didn’t have to do this,” Grassley said in a statement, adding:
Without the massive infusion of public dollars through the bailout program, these companies wouldn’t even exist anymore, much less be handing out bonuses. Instead, the bonuses have done a lot of damage to public confidence in the financial sector, which was already very low. The outrage you see at the grass roots is justified.
Wyden weighed in with a similar message. “Getting bailed out by the American taxpayer was more than enough of a bonus for these companies and individuals,” Wyden said in a statement. “I’m hoping the second time is the charm for our bipartisan approach.”
3 Comments
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Comment posted March 20, 2009 @ 12:55 pm
You quote Sen. Grassley as saying “the outrage you see at the grass roots is justified.” Does he realize that the outrage is not merely focused on the million-dollar bonus boys at AIG but much of that outrage is aimed at members of Congress such as himself? Of course he does! In fact, he tried to distract the attention of American taxpayers — away from Congress which wrote the loop-hole legislation for their buddies at the bailout corporations. (You do know that they belong to the same private clubs, their kids date one another, their wives work together on charity committees, they dine together)
In fact, just this week Grassley suggested that AIG execs receiving those milliion-dollar bonuses should “follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.” That sounds like good advice for members of Congress too.
Now that Grassley has received the publicity he wanted, he's falling all over himself to take those words back. His spokesman recently clarified that the senator was merely “speaking rhetorically.”
The Ethic Soup blog points out that Grassley's rhetoric is “grandios palaver — loud and confused empty talk, meaningless language, exaggerated with the intent to impress. ” And it suggests that Grassley and other members of Congress are trying to divert the attention — and great anger — of the American taxpayer AWAY from Congress.
To read the post, go to :
http://www.ethicsoup.com/2009/03/grassley-tells…
By the way, Ethic Soup has a really funny picture of Grassley offering Hara-Kiri sword to AIG execs.
Comment posted March 20, 2009 @ 7:55 pm
You quote Sen. Grassley as saying “the outrage you see at the grass roots is justified.” Does he realize that the outrage is not merely focused on the million-dollar bonus boys at AIG but much of that outrage is aimed at members of Congress such as himself? Of course he does! In fact, he tried to distract the attention of American taxpayers — away from Congress which wrote the loop-hole legislation for their buddies at the bailout corporations. (You do know that they belong to the same private clubs, their kids date one another, their wives work together on charity committees, they dine together)
In fact, just this week Grassley suggested that AIG execs receiving those milliion-dollar bonuses should “follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.” That sounds like good advice for members of Congress too.
Now that Grassley has received the publicity he wanted, he's falling all over himself to take those words back. His spokesman recently clarified that the senator was merely “speaking rhetorically.”
The Ethic Soup blog points out that Grassley's rhetoric is “grandios palaver — loud and confused empty talk, meaningless language, exaggerated with the intent to impress. ” And it suggests that Grassley and other members of Congress are trying to divert the attention — and great anger — of the American taxpayer AWAY from Congress.
To read the post, go to :
http://www.ethicsoup.com/2009/03/grassley-tells…
By the way, Ethic Soup has a really funny picture of Grassley offering Hara-Kiri sword to AIG execs.
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