Slippery Bankers

Wouldn't You Know It

The Prez sets out to recover our (we the taxpayers') TARP money from the banks we saved. Then before the plans get finalized, we have this Reuters story:


Banks, experts eye possible ways around Obama fee

Dan Wilchins
NEW YORK
Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:20pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - No sooner does Washington propose a new tax than an army of experts tries to figure out ways to avoid it.

That is already the case with U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed fee on banks, designed to ensure that Wall Street banks pay up to $117 billion to reimburse taxpayers for the financial bailout: Bankers, lawyers and consultants are already considering ways to avoid paying the fee.

"This law could be a real boon for lawyers and consultants like me. There are tremendous opportunities for coming up with new mechanisms to avoid it," said Bert Ely, a bank consultant in Alexandria, Virginia.

"This tax could indirectly fall on the banks that the government is trying to support," said James Ellman, president of hedge fund Seacliff Capital. [The whole piece]












Yep, those big banks are just dying to pay back the tax money we all contributed to their salvation and to get them back to their high-risk ways. What a fine time to be a banking consultant.

Now why are people pissed at the big banks? (Watch out for a "Move Your Money" post here one of these days. We're doin' it right now.)

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