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Voters want tax on £10,000 bonuses
Peter Dominiczak10 Sep 2009
Nearly three quarters of voters believe the Government should impose a new tax on all bonuses over £10,000 a year, a poll suggested today.
And an overwhelming 83 per cent of respondents agreed that excessive bonuses and executive pay fuelled risk-taking, which played a major part in the economic crash.
The YouGov poll, commissioned by centre-Left pressure group Compass, found that 73 per cent of voters agreed with a tax on £10,000-plus bonuses.
Some 68 per cent would also support the Government in imposing a new tax on major transactions by financial institutions, in a bid to curb the "risk culture".
Nearly two thirds of people supported the establishment of a High Pay Commission to review executive pay.
Labour backbencher Jon Cruddas said: "The poll shows that tackling excessive pay is electorally popular and the growing gap between rich and poor is a real public concern.
"Public anger over high pay and the City bonus culture demand the Government takes bold action."
Reader views (10)
Bonuses and salaries over a certain level are immoral and bad for the economy. Most of the very wealthy put their money into tax havens or spend it on property or their own luxury lifestyles. This money would be better being taxed and invested in British jobs, building new council houses and our transport infrastructure, not on mansions, buy-to-lets, private snob schools, fast cars and clothes.
- Oscar, Manchester UK, 11/09/2009 10:35
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When reading comments on articles such as this, the most dispressing constant is the repeating of two of the biggest lies now circulating.
One is that the present econonic and financial debacles are solely the fault of the government/politician/regulators. But none of it apparently is attributable to the rascals that inhabit the City (believe me its full of them - I dealt with them professionally). And if they did wrong, it was because the goverment etcetera failed to stop them. What shrift would a jury give to an armed robber pleading that it was the police who were actually guilty because they failed to prevent him carrying out the robbery?! Just because MPs are venal and others fell down on their jobs, the City's and bankers' pleas to be absolved from wantonly wrecking their own institutions is also hogwash. In your ire against Brown/Blair, MPs & Co, you let the City escape from its own guilt.
The second lie is that the City is the "only world class" or even "the only" industry that we have left. That is simply bone-headedly untrue - we have world class pharmaceutical, chemical, creative, musical, and aerospace industries to name a few; just think of GSK, Rolls Royce and BP for example.
Even when the City was in its pomp, manufacturing was still a still twice the proportion of the economy than financial services. And it still provides more than one half of our exports.
- William, London, 10/09/2009 14:56
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To enforce this we would basically have to change to being a sociallist economy. Is that what 73% of British people want? Reward decided by the whim of others rather than as a bounty for your own hard work.
- Mark, London, 10/09/2009 14:14
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They should tax bonuses at 60%, that way the bigger the bonus the less the take home pay.
With luck they real high-flyers would be using their savings to continue to work, and eventually have to rely on benefits.
That is the only way the people behind this daft idea will be happy.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 10/09/2009 13:32
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Anybody getting a £ 10k bonus is likely to be a higher rate tax and as such will likely to be taxed in the region of 41-60(ish)% under Labour's exsisting forthcoming tax plans, what more are they expecting to get from it. Taking over half of earnings in tax just to stay popular with some of the electorate is obscene and short-sighted
If a bank has a £1M bonus pot the Treasury already takes 48.552% in income tax and NI and this will rise to around 60.91% next year. Seems to me that ain't doing to badly out of the City already.
What impact will this have on sportsman, particularly footballers who have their own bonus culture?
- Mark, South-East London, 10/09/2009 13:30
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"tackling excessive pay is electorally popular and the growing gap between rich and poor is a real public concern"
I predict that Cruddas will be running for PM before next May and with Harridan Harperson as his deputy - that comment about rich and poor reeks of her equality agenda. If she is so bothered about the inequality in society, why doesn't she give up her ministerial salary and donate it to charity?
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one, 10/09/2009 13:18
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Schadenfreude anyone? As we all know, the vast majority of people in this country are stupid and hence would never be in a position to earn a bonus for anything. So the solution is tax people who work hard to achieve a degree of success and are rewarded for it. In case these people hadn't noticed, 50%+ of what you earn (if you are more than a mid level employee at any firm) already goes to the idiots who run the country and is squandered in helping those who least deserve it. What do you really think they would do with the extra money?
- Jon, london, 10/09/2009 12:56
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I understood that bonuses were already taxed as income at the rate "enjoyed" by the beneficiary - ie up to a soon to be 50%. Therefore, the risk is that additional taxation could push the gross amount of the bonus up further to compensate. Alternatively and as is happening in some parts of the financial sector, the balance between salary and bonus is changing in favour of higher salaries. Ultimately, the main beneficiary will be the Treasury.
- Matt, London, 10/09/2009 12:51
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There is already taxation on any bonus. When will people wake up and listen that more taxation equals a greater braindrain from this country.
The city is the only industry we have left in this country. You take that away, we'd really be in trouble.
- Scott, London, 10/09/2009 12:50
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This is just the politics of envy fueled by those in power who want to divert the blame for the mess we are in to others.
In reality what should happen is all those MPs who have made a profit out of their second homes must be made to repay that profit with interest. Simply paying the CGT on second homes funded by the taxpayer is not enough. The taxpayer should not be in the business of providing interest free loans to MPs so they can profit from the property market.
- Peter, Harrow, UK, 10/09/2009 12:47
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