Seven in ten Americans would prefer that bailed-out Wall Street companies be prohibited from allotting large bonuses to their employees, according to a Bloomberg poll. Add on the 17 percent who want a 50 percent tax on bonuses of more than $400,000 and you get a near 90 percent supermajority of ticked-off citizens who bristle at the thought of some trader paying cash for a brand new Bimmer in the coming months.
Bloomberg surveyed 1,000 adults on the matter.
Is it kind of hilarious that the results of this poll emerge at roughly the same time as Congress is ironing out a plan to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans? Is it kind of more funny that an extension of jobless benefits included in the compromise tax bill actually just pushes forward the qualifying dates and allows many long-term unemployed to fall through the cracks? Sort of, but maybe this little snipped from Bloomberg is funnier.
U.S. Senator Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, this year proposed a 50 percent tax on bonuses of more than $400,000, though it failed to win backing from Congress or the Obama administration.
mtaylor [at] observer.com | @mbrookstaylor
