Obama's bank tax not only fair, but necessary
Public Citizen has long advocated reforming the financial sector, particularly after the industry’s collapse last year. This week, President Obama proposed a plan to tax the large financial firms as a way to recoup the costs of bailing out the industry.
The tax would fall on about 50 firms and would garner between $90 billion and $117 billion over the next 10 years.
Slate published a story yesterday calling this tax unfair. “Almost all the banks targeted by the tax have paid back the money they owed,” Slate’s Christopher Beam wrote.
While many of the big names in banking have returned the bailout money they received, they have demonstrated that they have not learned their lesson. They are still engaging in the same reckless practices that got us into this financial mess in the first place.
Although the bailout was funded by taxpayer dollars, the Wall Street titans see no problem with using this money to fund outrageous bonuses.
It is time to stand up to Wall Street and demand our money back. President Obama’s tax is a great starting point, but more is needed to hold the Wall Street accountable, said Public Citizen’s president, Rob Weissman.
READ his statement and URGE Congress to stand up to Wall Street.