December 10, 2009

Never forget who really paid for the bonuses.

Sir, on your front page Patrick Jenkins, Brooke Masters and Francesco Guerrera reports on the “Banker’s fury at UK bonuses supertax”, December 10. Because there could be some shady collusion of interests that could want us all to ignore it, it might be convenient to remember that the real payers of those bonuses, or taxes, are the clients of the financial intermediaries. If we are going to have true fiscal transparency then perhaps the supertaxed part of the bonuses should be returned to the clients of the banks, and if so needed, taxed there.