Obama Pulls Back on Bonus Tax

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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March 23, 2009

Obama Pulls Back on Bonus Tax

President Obama "is no fan of bonuses paid at a financial institutions being kept afloat by taxpayer dollars but also says he would not 'govern out of anger' despite Americans' frustration with such perks," the AP reports.

"As he seeks lawmakers' support for his first budget, he took a political risk in signaling discomfort with a separate plan that slaps a punitive, 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to American International Group employees."

The Washington Post quotes Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden's chief economic adviser: "The president would be concerned that this bill may have some problems in going too far -- the House bill -- may go too far in terms of some legal issues, constitutional validity, using the tax code to surgically punish a small group of people."

Meanwhile, Politico reports a Senate bill to be considered this week "is less punitive, but could affect more companies receiving bailout funds. It would impose a 35 percent excise tax on the companies that paid bonuses and a 35 percent tax on the employees receiving them."

David Nather looks at the politics of the president not signing a bill.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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March 23, 2009