Democratic Senators Jim Webb and Barbara unveil another proposal aimed at allowing taxpayers to recoup bailout funds from recipients of exorbitant bonuses at firms that received more than $5 billion in TARP funds:
WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Two Democratic senators on Thursday proposed legislation that would impose a one-time tax on bonuses paid to executives of companies bailed out with taxpayer money.
Senators Barbara Boxer and Jim Webb proposed a 50 percent tax on 2009 bonuses above $400,000 at any firm that has received more than $5 billion in government assistance.
The next question is whether or not this is just another press release or if it actually has a chance of becoming a law.
The senators said they had not yet gathered broad support for the proposal, and neither sits on the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, which would likely have to take up the bill. A 35 percent tax on bonuses at bailed-out companies was proposed last year by the leaders of the Finance Committee, Democrat Max Baucus and Republican Charles Grassley, but it has not been acted on.
So you can add this to a list of ideas floating out there to make taxpayers whole after the bailout spree, but the question still remains: will Democrats in Congress actually do anything to make any of those ideas become reality? The results of the 2010 election may hinge on the answer.