Bye-Bye, Bank Fee

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/06/bye-bye-bank-fee

Congressional leaders are getting ready to drop the open-ended Financial Crisis Assessment Fund, a kind of make-it-up-as-you-go-along tax or "assessment" on hedge funds with assets of more than $10 billion and financial companies with assets of more than $50 billion, from the Dodd-Frank financial "reform" bill, the Financial Times reports. Instead they will pay for the bill with unused TARP money. The FT says, "Hedge funds, in particular, had engaged in a frantic lobbying effort to escape the charge, according to a senior government official, who described the behaviour as 'shameless.'"

What's more shameless? Imposing an open-ended and vague tax on funds that may have had little or nothing to do with the financial crisis and received no direct bailout? Or lobbying against such a tax?

Let's hope the senior government official calling the hedge funds shameless isn't Lawrence "$5.2 million a year for one day a week at the D.E. Shaw hedge fund" Summers. That would really be shameless.

by Editor  |  Jun 29, 2010 at 4:01 pm Related Topics:  Banking, Capital Markets Regulation, Politics, Taxes receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list