Balls calls for new bank bonus tax

Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, will today call for a £2 billion bankers bonus tax to help create 100,000 jobs for young people. The policy would repeat the successful tax introduced by Alistair Darling which the Coalition allowed to lapse.

An amendment to the Finance Bill, which Labour’s shadow Treasury team will push to a vote in the House of Commons this afternoon, calls on the Government to repeat the bank bonus tax introduced by the Labour Government last year. Labour believes a repeat of last year’s bank bonus tax, in addition to the permanent bank levy, would raise at least £2 billion this year.

The funds raised should be spent on creating over 100,000 jobs by:

- establishing a youth jobs fund;

- building 25,000 affordable homes; and

- supporting small businesses by boosting the over-subscribed regional growth fund.

Ed Balls MP said today:

“Keeping young people on the dole is not just a waste of potential but a waste of money too. That’s why, instead of giving the banks a tax cut this year, the Government should adopt Labour’s plan for a tax on bankers’ bonuses and use the money get young people into work and so help get the deficit down.

“After rising sharply in the winter, there has been a welcome fall in youth unemployment in recent months. But there are still almost one in five young people looking for work and I’m worried about the thousands of young people who will leave school or college this summer without a job or apprenticeship to go to.

“I hope MPs from other parties will do the right thing and support our amendment to stop another lost generation of young people, as in the 1980s when youth unemployment rose for four years after the recession was over.”

The bankers bonus tax was first unveiled by Alistair Darling in the Pre-Budget Report in December 2009 but allowed to lapse by the Tory-led coalition a year later. The 50 per cent tax on bonuses worth over £25,000 was expected to yield £550 million but ended up bringing in over £2 billion as bankers’ behaviour was unchanged.

http://twitter.com/isobel_waby/status/88148087985545217 Isobel waby

Balls calls for new bank bonus tax reports @wdjstraw http://bit.ly/mxuQvz
http://twitter.com/leicesterrtw/status/88149661961043968 Leics Right To Work

Balls calls for new bank bonus tax reports @wdjstraw http://bit.ly/mxuQvz
http://twitter.com/malcfleming/status/88151644101029888 Malcolm Fleming

Balls calls for new bank bonus tax reports @wdjstraw http://bit.ly/mxuQvz
Selohesra

So when in power Labour realised this tax could only be a one off for fear of driving business away from London. Now in opposition they can proudly trumpet how much tougher they would bash the bankers just to gain a few opportunistic soundbites and pander to the jealousy and prejudice of their core vote.
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[...] posted here: Balls calls for new bank bonus tax | Left Foot Forward More on this:Ed Balls calls for emergency tax cut By Joe Churcher, Press Association Shadow [...]
http://twitter.com/therightarticle/status/88181162069069824 Michael

Ed Balls calls for new bank bonus tax to help create 100,000 jobs for young people I Left Foot Forward – http://j.mp/jS0EOL
http://twitter.com/jpofgwynedd/status/88182905746112513 J P

RT @TheRightArticle: Ed Balls calls for new bank bonus tax to help create 100,000 jobs for young people I Left Foot Fo… http://j.mp/jS0EOL
Mark Stevo

Would be interested in how the salary / bonus ratio has changed over time. Anecdotally I’d suggests that there’s Bren a quite substantial shift toward fixed salaries in anticipation if just this kind of move.
Dave Citizen

If a person is willing to quit Britain because they are only making say £750,000 instead of £950,000 in a year, do we really want them? The rest of us are expected to show loyalty to Britain and be good proud citizens for £25,000 a year, frozen for 2 years if we’re lucky!

And as for talent, what a load of rubbish. We can see what talented stock this lot come from by looking at how the private schools that provide most of the best paid ones fair elsewhere. With the sporting facilities available to this lot we should be winning everything!

It’s time to stand on our own feet as a whole country and not be held to ransom by a privileged elite threatening us with their departure.

Adios I say
Leon Wolfson

Dave;

The problem is we’re bleeding talent to countries like Canada and Australia, which have more liberal employment policies, not to mention the EU (where jobs are better protected). It’s not the £750k workers we need to worry about losing, it’s the £30-50 keystones.
Alex

Yes Dave Citizen – let’s ensure that all of the biggest tax contributors leave these shores as quickly as possible, as we don’t want these greedy scumbags’ money. Aren’t you old enough to distinguish between reality and idealism yet?

Bless!
http://twitter.com/asfand/status/88649619348799488 Asfandyar Khan

http://bit.ly/qZ6FOk not a fan as such of taxing bonuses, but the last paragraph shows why it's a pragmatic requirement.
Shankar

The advantages of doing business in the UK are strong. Where will these City people go? Geneva is full up, Dubai and Shanghai are not London. The advantages of doing business in the City are still big enough, and these people should contribute to improving people’s lives, after having wrecked the economy.