WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators proposed on Tuesday a 70 percent tax on bonuses for executives at companies that received money from the $700 billion financial bailout package in a bid to recover millions of dollars in bonuses paid to executives of American International Group Inc.
The proposal by Senators Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley, the Democratic chairman and the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, would require the companies to pay a 35 percent excise tax and the other half would be paid by the recipient.
'We're trying to respond to the outrage that is coming from the grassroots of America,' said Baucus. He added that he believed the legislation would recoup most of the bonus money paid to the AIG employees.
The lawmakers said they were working to get the legislation to the Senate floor quickly.
(Reporting by Donna Smith and Richard Cowan, Editing by Sandra Maler) Keywords: FINANCIAL AIG/TAX
COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The proposal by Senators Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley, the Democratic chairman and the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, would require the companies to pay a 35 percent excise tax and the other half would be paid by the recipient.
'We're trying to respond to the outrage that is coming from the grassroots of America,' said Baucus. He added that he believed the legislation would recoup most of the bonus money paid to the AIG employees.
The lawmakers said they were working to get the legislation to the Senate floor quickly.
(Reporting by Donna Smith and Richard Cowan, Editing by Sandra Maler) Keywords: FINANCIAL AIG/TAX
COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.