House Passes Bonus Tax Bill
After the top brass at AIG couldn’t be stopped from dishing out $165 million in bonuses to executives who didn’t exactly deserve gold-star treatment, Congress is attempting to recoup most of the money by slapping a 90 percent tax on such executive windfalls.
Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Dodd is disclaiming responsibility for enabling the AIG bonus debacle by changing the wording of a key section in the stimulus bill passed last month; Dodd says the Obama administration made him do it.
USA Today:
The U.S. House approved a bill Thursday that would impose a new tax on the $165 million paid to bailed-out insurance giant AIG as Senate Republicans stepped up criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of bonuses.
The House measure would apply a 90% tax on bonuses given to employees who earn more than $250,000 at any firm that received more than $5 billion in bailout money.
The vote was 328-93.