Comment & Debate
“Jim Webb: The case for financial reform.” August Free Press (Virginia). May 12, 2010: “Executive compensation. I introduced my Taxpayer Fairness Act as an amendment to the bill. My amendment would give American taxpayers an upside in the recovery of our economic system, which became possible only because their tax dollars saved it. It puts a one-time windfall tax on bonuses paid in 2010 to executives of the thirteen financial institutions that received $5 billion or more of taxpayer support under TARP or the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). This one-time, 50 percent excise tax on bonuses above $400,000 would raise, at a minimum, an estimated $3.5 billion. Nothing is more fair or appropriate than to make American taxpayers whole after they infused our financial system with capital necessary for its recovery.”