Obscene tax breaks on obscene bonuses

these banksters are so over-the-top greedy it fairly boggles the mind...

Along with Wall Street’s resurgent bonuses will come a jump in an ancillary benefit: tax breaks.

For all banks and Wall Street firms, “I’m sure we’re talking $200 billion total compensation, which would create a tax savings for the firms of $80 billion,” said Robert Willens, an accounting and tax analyst in New York who runs a consulting firm, Robert Willens LLC. The figure does not include bonus plans by hedge funds, which are likely to reduce their payouts after a down year.

The tax deductions, which will increase the bottom line of the banks, are perfectly legal and not new. They come as compensation for 2009 has roared back after the largest banks paid back billions of dollars in federal aid, an outlay still fresh in the minds of taxpayers. As pay goes up, so do the deductions.

Many American banks already pay minuscule federal income taxes, because of various deductions and clever tax planning; the payout-related breaks will reduce their tax bills further in coming years.

The biggest tax break will go to Goldman Sachs. It expects to award its employees $23 billion in bonuses — the most in its history — after having paid back $10 billion. Because most employee compensation is a deductible expense under tax laws, Goldman Sachs, which is technically taxed at a top corporate rate of 39 percent, will save about $9 billion in federal income taxes on the bonuses it pays out for 2009, Mr. Willens said.

The tax breaks cover both cash awards and stock options. Banks can generally carry back losses related to compensation two to five years or forward 20 years, depending on when the payouts are made in a given tax year.

the fact that over one billion people around the world are going hungry while these bloated bastards continue to rake in amounts of money that an average person can't even fathom is one shitty way to start off a new year...

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