Finally someone has managed to see thorough the smoke and mirrors of the big banks. This is maybe the first time that Big Bank had to answer to the American people and I for one am welcoming it.
On January 14th of this year, president Barack Obama announced plans to impose a levy on large financial firms, responding to public furor over reports of massive profits and “obscene” bonuses at companies that received taxpayer aid to weather the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
The fee, based on bank liabilities, would be imposed starting June 30 on financial companies with more than $50 billion in assets, including TARP beneficiaries Citigroup Inc., American International Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp.
“I think Congress will go along,” Rep. Van Hollen said. “There’s a real sense in Congress that it’s time for the banks to pay back the taxpayers.”
The Senate should include the provision in overhaul legislation being drafted by the Banking Committee, he said.
“You could amend the House provision to make it consistent with the administration’s proposal,” Van Hollen said.
FDIC Authority
Peters’s amendment gives the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. the power to collect a fee from financial companies with more than $50 billion in assets and hedge funds with more than $10 billion. It builds on authority the FDIC would get under the House bill to charge those firms a fee to create a fund that would cover the cost of dismantling failed systemically risky firms.
The TARP legislation Congress approved in October 2008 required the president to submit a proposal to Congress in five years to recoup any projected taxpayer losses from the financial industry.
The Obama administration estimates that its proposed Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee would raise $90 billion over 10 years and $117 billion over 12 years.
