House Passes 90% Bonus Tax
And you thought Washington was constitutionally unable to get anything done in a hurry. The House passed legislation this afternoon to recoup most of the $165 million in bonuses paid out to employees of AIG. The bill applies a 90 percent tax on bonuses given to executives who earn more than $250,000 and who work for companies that have received at least $5 billion in government aid.
This means the measure could also be applied to people at a big bunch of banks, of course, which certainly won't be welcome news this afternoon at Bank of America or Citigroup. But it isn't law yet! The Senate will take up a similar bill next week and it's always possible that as soon as some other big scandal comes along and diverts attention, Washington bureaucrats will find something else to obsess about.
