Attempts at theft
Yesterday, Congress held hearings on the subject of retention bonuses paid to certain AIG employees, and the results were totally distasteful. Besides pressuring the chief executive to "ask" employees to return the money, Congress is considering a bill to tax those bonuses at 90%. Such legislation would not be considered to be an ex post facto law, based on a lousy 1994 Supreme Court decision. However, I wonder if such legislation could be considered a bill of attainder, since it would attempt to directly penalize a specific set of individuals.
The fact is, back in early 2008, when the markets were weakening but before AIG really tanked, these individuals agreed to stay with AIG in return for retention bonuses. They could have easily gone somewhere else, but stayed for financial incentives. And now Congress and the President want to take those away from them. Worse, Sen. Grassley said that the honorable thing to do for these individuals would be to resign or commit suicide. Why isn't the public outraged that a senior senator is saying that these people kill themselves?
How would you like it if you have been working somewhere for $70K for the last year, only to have your employer come back and say, "sorry, we're going to take everything back past minimum wage"? Yes, the AIG employees are making more than minimum wage, but they are making what was promised to them.
If the United States is going to start penalizing individuals with taxes, I think it should start by taxing at a rate of 90% all individuals in the executive branch who make $400,000 per year, and all individuals in the legislative branch who make $174,000 per year.
The fact is, back in early 2008, when the markets were weakening but before AIG really tanked, these individuals agreed to stay with AIG in return for retention bonuses. They could have easily gone somewhere else, but stayed for financial incentives. And now Congress and the President want to take those away from them. Worse, Sen. Grassley said that the honorable thing to do for these individuals would be to resign or commit suicide. Why isn't the public outraged that a senior senator is saying that these people kill themselves?
How would you like it if you have been working somewhere for $70K for the last year, only to have your employer come back and say, "sorry, we're going to take everything back past minimum wage"? Yes, the AIG employees are making more than minimum wage, but they are making what was promised to them.
If the United States is going to start penalizing individuals with taxes, I think it should start by taxing at a rate of 90% all individuals in the executive branch who make $400,000 per year, and all individuals in the legislative branch who make $174,000 per year.
posted by David at 3/19/2009 08:58:00 AM
2 Comments:
Dave,
They've long said the Constitution was a living document... now we see it is a dying document.
So, if they have to write an ex post facto Bill of Attainder to punish those horrible hatemongering capitalists who agreed to work for money (as opposed to being on welfare, as all good citizens should), then that is the right thing to do for the country.
If you disagree, you must be one of those racists who wants the president to fail.
[end sarcasm mode]
I totally agree, retroactive, post-hock, taxation is definitely not a smart precedent to set, and I *hope* that the administration has enough sense to veto this kind of thing.
_andy, this has nothing to do with welfare, and I am afraid that kind of knee jerk reaction substitutes anger for thoughtful discussion and reduces our public debate towards a bunch of gorillas throwing feces at one another.
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