[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 52]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          TAXING BANK BONUSES

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Yesterday, I introduced H.R. 4414, a bill that imposes 
a 75 percent tax on the outside bonuses bankers are paying themselves 
from windfall profits earned from massive Federal Government support.
  This bill is necessary because bankers are about to pay out some of 
the largest bonuses in history. All banking corporations, whether they 
received direct assistance or not, received substantial benefits from 
government bailouts. Bankers' failures to self-regulate, let us 
remember, were the direct result of the crisis we're in today. They 
need to be told that the money they're making is a public trust, not 
something they've earned for good behavior.
  Bank profits are the result of a deliberate Federal Government policy 
to restore banking capital and ultimately investment in American 
prosperity. Banking bonuses have nothing to do with these objectives, 
and payouts to bankers are a form of appropriation of public wealth.
  Banks could be using their profits to do many things to improve the 
prospects of economic recovery, including strengthening their capital 
base, recognizing and writing off their real estate losses, reducing 
fees charged to customers, especially for seniors and struggling 
consumers, and increasing lending to small and medium-sized companies.
  Support H.R. 1414.

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