rssCongress’ 90 Percent Bonus Tax Is Probably Legal
Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 4:02 pm
- 7 Comments
For those who’ve been wondering whether Congress can really just vent its anger at those $165 million in AIG bonuses by levying a 90 percent tax on the bonuses of all executives who receive bailout money, the answer is: probably, yes.
The Los Angeles Times reports that legal experts agree that the bill that passed the House on Friday would probably not be considered a bill of attainder, which is essentially a law that singles out one group for punishment and is prohibited by the Constitution. It’s probably not an ex post facto law either, which retroactively punishes actions that were lawful when they were committed.
“The Supreme Court has limited those provisions to laws that ‘inflict punishment,’ mostly in the criminal arena,” writes The Times’ David Savage.
While it may feel like punishment to all those corporate executives accustomed to multi-million-dollar bonuses, tax laws are technically not punitive, and legal experts say they’re rarely struck down as unconstitutional.
7 Comments
Comment posted March 21, 2009 @ 7:58 pm
… rarely struck down ? Even by a supreme court that is currently so pro-business and anti government ? and generally anti 'the lesser classes and the masses' ?
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Comment posted March 22, 2009 @ 12:48 pm
The Court usually looks at the “INTENT” of the Law, if you watched CSPAN during the debate over this Tax Bill you would have seen and heard that the “INTENT” of those pushing for its passage was punitive. The theme of the debate by the Bills supporters was that those receiving the bonuses had to be punished, a word used repeatedly. No matter what Congress put in writing the Intent of the Bill, in their own words, was to punish a single group. If I were an attorney for those receiving bonuses I would get my hands on those CSPAN Videos.
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Comment posted March 22, 2009 @ 5:23 pm
Failure to reward is not punishment. Nice try, though. We have a nice parting gift for you.
Comment posted April 10, 2009 @ 3:41 pm
Would you want YOUR government to single out and tax YOU? And would you want the money they are taxing to be money YOUR government agreed (signed a contract) with YOUR employers to give YOU? And the bonuses were no secret, they were public information from the day (months and months ago) that they were signed by the government that was instituted for YOUR protection and to ensure YOUR rights were not being violated.
Comment posted April 10, 2009 @ 10:41 pm
Would you want YOUR government to single out and tax YOU? And would you want the money they are taxing to be money YOUR government agreed (signed a contract) with YOUR employers to give YOU? And the bonuses were no secret, they were public information from the day (months and months ago) that they were signed by the government that was instituted for YOUR protection and to ensure YOUR rights were not being violated.
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