Bankers Vs. Government

With a Bank of England loan of £62bn being secretly transferred into the coffers of the HBOS and RBS only recently made public , the UK Government is desperately trying to curry favour with the British voter by announcing a tax or ban on Bankers Bonus Payments. This seems to be another own goal , with their own laws and the EU laws that they have signed up to , potentially preventing them from discriminatory action against one particular occupation.

The Times Online writes:

“ Ministers’ desire to clobber senior bankers with some kind of tax on their bonuses is understandable, but it will be fraught with practical difficulties. It may win votes in the short term, but the obstacles to a tax which is fair, doesn’t contravene European legislation and has no nasty unseen consequences are considerable.Accountants can think of no personal tax which targets an occupation. Priests and barristers may be able to claim specific trifling expenses, but an entire tax against one occupation is unheard of and sets a potentially dangerous precedent. If it’s bankers this year, could it be estate agents next year? Or professional footballers, or MPs?While the appeal of targeting hated professions, or merely well-paid ones, is superficially attractive, the scope for abuse is considerable. Accountants last night were already suggesting such a tax could be discriminatory and illegal. They also suggested the tax authorities would quickly be tied in knots over what constitutes a banker, or indeed a bonus.”

Unfortunately the article – in fact the whole sorry mess – is designed to create the impression that Governments control the Banks. Secret payments of £62bn to the two UK banks as revealed last week by an embarrassed Bank of England official goes some way to show how much the UK Government is run by the Banking system.  As if to underline the fact  , Alistair Darling will this week tell government departments that the money has run out and they face a three-year cash freeze on spending.

It’s attempt to garner public praise for clawing back a small franction of the population’s money is being exposed as incompetent and illegal at best. At worst , it is a ploy to convince a waking public that that the UK still has a Government. Some patsies will no doubt pay the price of the financial meltdown that leaves the UK as the only remaining EU state still in recession.