“Unreconstructed old Lefty Naughtie was in full-onGuardianista mode this morning about bank bonuses, especially when interviewingDavid Cameron: he took particular delight in quoting the Centre For Economicsand Business Research report “revealing” that bank bonuses will amount to £7bnthis year (cue righteous shock/horror).
Somehow though he forgot to say that the figure is lowerthan last year: but what he also didn’t reveal is that the CEBR press releasealso stresses that more than half of the total figure will be going into theTreasury’s coffers. Yep, that’s right –through a combination of the 50% taxrate on incomes above £150,000 and the main rate of employer’s NICs at 12.8% ondiscretionary earnings, it’s actually the taxman who will take around £4.1bn ofthe total.
As the CEBR’s press release put it “Our research showsthat the public coffers stand to gain considerably more from city bonuses thancity workers themselves”. Funny how that bit got left out of the clip.”
Good catch.
Didn’t the BBC ‘champion’ Darlings tax on the bonuses from last year?
I have no love for bankers with their ‘short-termism’, their priority to giving themselves bonuses despite there being losses on the balancesheets, and basic errors in high-risk lending, BUT, it is blatantly the case the BBC-NUJ gives the high-paid in the public sector (which includes BBC-NUJ) a relatively easy ride:
“Public sector pay: 9,000 on public payroll are paid more than the Prime Minister”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/8012668/Public-sector-pay-9000-on-public-payroll-are-paid-more-than-the-Prime-Minister.html
BBC-NUJ criticism of bankers does not seem to extend to political left’s banker, Mr. George Soros:
“Only Connect” (by Melanie Phillips)
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/6315104/only-connect.thtml