March 19, 2009: House of Representatives Approves 90 Percent Tax on AIG Bonuses; Bill Killed by Obama and Senate

The US House of Representatives passes a bill imposing a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to AIG executives. The bonuses were set to be paid in December 2008 and earlier in the month, but there has been a public outcry against them, as the company had to be bailed out by the taxpayer six months ago (see September 16, 2008 and March 15, 2009). [Reuters, 4/17/2009] However, President Obama soon challenges the bill’s legality, saying: “I think that as a general proposition, you don’t wanna be passing laws that are just targeting a handful of individuals. You wanna pass laws that have some broad applicability. And as a general proposition, I think you certainly don’t wanna use the tax code to punish people.” The Democratic leadership in the Senate then says that it will wait and see what happens, instead of immediately acting on the bill forwarded by the House of Representatives. This effectively shelves the bill, although several of the executives give their bonuses back anyway (see March 24, 2009). [Politics Daily, 3/24/2009]