Obama Bank Fee to Hit 50 of the Biggest U.S. Financial Firms

bloomberg on yahoo ^ | 1/14/10 | Julianna Goldman

[NormsRevenge]

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- As many as 50 financial firms with assets greater than $50 billion each would be hit by a levy President Barack Obama will propose today to help recoup taxpayer bailout money and trim the federal budget deficit, an administration official said.

The levy based on bank liabilities would be imposed starting June 30 and the administration estimates it will raise $90 billion over a minimum of 10 years, said the official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.

Obama plans to outline the proposal late this morning at the White House and a more detailed plan will be included in the budget message he’s due to send Congress next month. The announcement comes as public anger is rising over the taxpayer bailouts of the financial and auto industries, Wall Street bonuses and the deficit, which hit $1.4 trillion last year.

Even before it was formally released, the proposed Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee drew criticism from the industry.

“Using tax policy to punish people is a bad idea,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, 53, said after testifying yesterday at a hearing of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in Washington. “All businesses tend to pass their costs on to customers.”

[NormsRevenge]

The fee targets the country’s biggest financial institutions and aims to recoup losses from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which the Treasury Department now estimates to cost $117 billion, the administration official said.

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I hope all those elected officials in both parties who signed off on TARP are haPPy with their vote.. and can handle the vote results in November 2010 that will send them off to the hinterlands of politics permanently.

They willingly gave away the farm and let the farm animals call the shots. Now, let them reap their rewards.

[ilovesarah2012]

Surely the bankers can’t be surprised by this. No such thing as a free lunch.

[o_zarkman44]

The Banks should not have signed on to “Dancing with communists”.

The Devil always deals in sinister outcomes.

[mreerm]

will the bankers pay those fees without passing them along to the end customers?

i suspect that 0bama’s fees on the banks will end up really being new to the end customers.

[LearsFool]

to help recoup taxpayer bailout money and trim the federal budget deficit

The royal treasury is getting a bit low. Time for a pogrom and a bit of property confiscation?

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

[Vaduz]

“All businesses tend to pass their costs on to customers.”
And Obama knows that.

[MichiganConservative]

...administration estimates it will raise $90 billion over a minimum of 10 years...

Wow, that will almost cover the last $1 trillion in deficit spending since Ears took over.

[vwbug]

You are correct and they’ll raise the money from Bonuses

[roses of sharon]

Obama to Announce $120 Billion Tax on Large Banks [Veronique de Rugy]

The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. Here is a good example of insanity: The Washington Post reports a “proposed tax on large banks, which President Obama plans to announce on Thursday, is intended to constrain risk-taking and discourage outsize bonuses, in addition to recouping some of the cost of the government’s various bailout programs, officials said.” The officials said the administration “wants to collect about $120 billion from banks over 10 years, taxing banks based on the amounts they have borrowed to finance lending and other activities.” The administration “plans to include the proposed tax in the budget it delivers to Congress in February,” but what “emerges from Congress, however, could be markedly different.”

Indeed. The Hill reports that House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank “is mounting a new effort to limit executive compensation as Wall Street prepares this month to pay out huge bonuses.” Frank, “said he is looking at levying new taxes or fees on financial firms as well as ways to further empower shareholders to restrict pay.” Frank, “called a hearing for Jan. 22 and said he is not convinced by arguments that restrictions would hurt the industry by forcing well-paid employees to go elsewhere.”

Seriously, what are they thinking about? Can’t the administration and Frank see that these types of measures will only hurt the recovery? The only effect of this tax will be to soak equity out these institutions limiting their ability to recover and issue loans. Plus haven’t most of these banks repaid the money they were forced to take from the government? With interest, no less.

And if Mister Frank really believes that chasing well-paid employees to go elsewhere is a winning strategy and won’t have any impact on the industry, then I suggest that next time he is sick he goes to a hospital where doctors are poorly paid and see how he feels about that.

This anti-capitalist and anti-wealth mentality is scary and very anti-American.

01/14 11:57 AMShare

[goodnesswins]

If we could tax the DEMOCRAT IDIOTS....we’d be DEBT FREE!!!!

[snowsislander]

I recommend that everyone read the full article. There’s a lot of good information buried deep in it, and I think that the first part read alone is quite misleading.

[Sleeping Freeper]

And as usual, well positioned Goldman Sachs will not be subject to the tax....

[MagnoliaB]

“The levy also won’t be assessed on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-supported companies seized by regulators in 2008. The official said the administration concluded hitting Fannie and Freddie with the fee wouldn’t be in taxpayers’ interest. “

Of course he's not going to levy the fee on his buddies. They are the ones that caused this mess. They need to be thrown in jail!

[Reagan Man]

Too big to fail, not too big to tax. LOL

[Nick Danger]

Surely the bankers can’t be surprised by this. No such thing as a free lunch.

You actually believe that "bankers" are going to pay this fee? Please tell me you aren't that gullible.

"Bankers" are just employees. They're not going to pay these fees. No, the people who pay the fees are the bank's customers... you know, people like you and me.

No business pays taxes. Businesses merely collect taxes from their customers, and hand the money over to the government. Think about it: the only place money goes in to a business is from customers. There's no place else for a business to get money with which to pay taxes, or salaries, or anything else.

Any time a politician — or other government advocate, like a reporter — tells you that "business" is going to get "hit," prepare to feel the pain. There's only one place a business can get the money to pay the new tax... you.

[glorgau]

50 financial firms with assets greater than $50 billion

"Too big to fail" is also "Too big to hide".

[AndyJackson]

$120 billion from banks over 10 years,

So, we printed a trillion or so and gave it to the banks but will collect back $12 B per year, which isn't even 1% interest. Good deal for the taxpayers.

[roses of sharon]

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/fan-and-fred-frauds-by-design/2/ New research by Edward Pinto, a former chief credit officer for Fannie Mae and a housing expert, has found that from the time Fannie and Freddie began buying risky loans as early as 1993, they routinely misrepresented the mortgages they were acquiring, reporting them as prime when they had characteristics that made them clearly subprime or Alt-A.

[roses of sharon]

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/fan-and-fred-frauds-by-design/2/

(link for new F&F info)

[ColdOne]

I post this photo of Obama laughing, because that is what he is doing every single day. He is stealing from all of us. Destroying values we hold dear. I cannot post any more I am so upset.