9.2 Billion Dollar Tax Break For Banks and Financial Firms

Banks and financial firms supposedly are facing more pressure given the Great Recession. The 9.2 billion dollar tax break they just received seems to refute this.

You have to love financial institutions. One year they need hundreds of millions of dollars to stay afloat. The next year, they are giving out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses based on the business done the year they needed the bailouts! This has hardly been a good PR move and supposedly was leading to a real crackdown on the industry. 

Guess again. We often criticize other countries for corruption, but you really have to wonder about our government. Of course, we don’t call ours corruption. We call it lobbying, which is quickly becoming a four letter word if it hasn’t already. Just consider what happened in December. 

December 2010 brought us the tax deal between President Obama and the Republicans. Ostensibly, it was supposed to extend the Bush Tax Cuts. It did that, but oh so much more as well. In fact, it created another $850 billion in debt for our nation making it a second stimulus bill by any other name. 

Banks and financial institutions were particularly stimulated by the new tax deal. How so? Simple. They were given an exemption worth an estimated $9.2 billion dollars. Specifically, they do not have to pay tax on any earnings incurred outside of the country. As American citizens, you and I do to give you a frame of reference. 

It is rather amazing that we can do so much for financial institutions while doing so little for actual individual taxpayers. Remember that the next time you hear a politician say they are in favor of family values.