Comments on: The new wave of bank taxes http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/06/22/the-new-wave-of-bank-taxes/ A slice of lime in the soda Tue, 21 May 2013 08:40:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: GingerYellow http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/06/22/the-new-wave-of-bank-taxes/comment-page-1/#comment-16084 GingerYellow Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:37:06 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/?p=4372#comment-16084 "I would have liked, however, to see the tax be a little less flat. If the Fiscal Commission is looking across the pond to see what the UK is doing, then I’d urge them to think a bit more inventively: make the tax progressive, with too-big-to-fail banks paying a higher rate; and maybe link it to leverage, somehow, as well." It only applies to too big to fail banks - ie those with liabilities over £20bn. And it is linked to leverage. Deposits and tier one capital are deducted from the measured liabilities. Moreover, it's linked to liquidity - banks pay a lower rate for long term liabilities (defined as maturing in at least a year, which doesn't seem all that long term to me, but it's better than repo funding I guess). It's certainly less flat than the Obama administration's similar proposal. “I would have liked, however, to see the tax be a little less flat. If the Fiscal Commission is looking across the pond to see what the UK is doing, then I’d urge them to think a bit more inventively: make the tax progressive, with too-big-to-fail banks paying a higher rate; and maybe link it to leverage, somehow, as well.”

It only applies to too big to fail banks – ie those with liabilities over £20bn. And it is linked to leverage. Deposits and tier one capital are deducted from the measured liabilities. Moreover, it’s linked to liquidity – banks pay a lower rate for long term liabilities (defined as maturing in at least a year, which doesn’t seem all that long term to me, but it’s better than repo funding I guess). It’s certainly less flat than the Obama administration’s similar proposal.

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