Congress passes extreme marriage penalty for bankers

Posted by Marc Hodak on March 19, 2009 under Stupid laws, Unintended consequences | 2 Comments to Read

There are so many unintended consequences that would pop out of the 90 percent tax on bail-out bankers that it could keep this blogger busy for days.  Unfortunately, I’ll probably be way too busy helping set up the management companies that will supplant every last employee at a major bank without “assistant” in their title.

One of the first drivers for this won’t be, as many suppose, the people making over $250K.  It will be people married to working spouses.  The $250K limit applies to household income.  So, if your husband or wife is a New York lawyer, your household income is $250,000 before Morgan has paid you your first dollar.  Everything above that is gone as soon as it hits your bank account.  You may, in fact, owe money on your earnings.

So, sorry honey, I don’t care how much the taxpayers need you to protect what little they have in that big ‘ole bank.  Our nanny now makes more than you do, so find another job, or stay home and watch the kids.

  • Carlton J said,

    Actually, it looks like married people will be filing separately, and the confiscation begins at $125,000. Doesn’t change the basic fact that noone of any substance would remain in the firms that can’t pay back the TARP funds pronto.

  • Kat said,

    I hope you write a post about the fact that employees of foreign banks are exempt from this tax event though the Fed funneled TARP funds to them through AIG. Guess where all the really valuable employees of American financial institutions are going to go?

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