WASHINGTON, DC - Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), joined by colleagues, introduced legislation addressing companies using taxpayer funds to pay executive bonuses. The legislation, H.R. 1586, would tax the bonuses of highly paid individuals at a rate of 90 percent if their employer received more than five billion dollars in Federal assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The legislation only applies to individuals whose total family income exceeds $250,000 per year (adjusted gross income). It affects bonuses received after Jan. 1, 2009 and would cover companies receiving more than three-fourths of financial rescue funds already distributed.
“When you weigh the harm that AIG and other bad actors have done to the system, our economy, and American families, with the concerns regarding the precedent of using the tax code, there is no question this legislation is the best decision we can make," said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY). “It is not enough to say ‘you can’t do anything about it.’ We have to do something about it."
“Dreams have been shattered and homes have been lost because a small group of executives were motivated by greed rather than preserving a system that America and the world depend upon," stressed Chairman Rangel. “They caused irreparable harm to our financial system and to the lives of millions of Americans, and Congress is challenged by the limited means at our disposal to undo what has been done. Make no mistake about it, we will not tolerate these abuses. We will send the clearest of signals, a solid red light, to say ‘stop, do not go there.’"
