Goldman Sachs & the one percenters

Happy New Year! Are you enjoying your multimillion dollar bonus this year? Whasat? Not only did you not get a huge bonus, you didn't get one at all? Well that's too bad....you see, you're not one of the mobsters that bought off government. When you're one the top one percent oligarchs, you only pay one percent in taxes as well. I'll say it again, until these monsters are held in check by taxes and regulations, the gall of their thievery will continue to amaze.....all the way through the coming crash (which at this point is all but inevitable).

Wall Street ready to claim billions in tax breaks on bonus payments.
By Pat Garofalo at ThinkProgress.org

2009 closed with the stock market rebounding 61 percent from its March lows, and “Wall Street is ready to pat itself on the back for its huge gains with big bonuses,” potentially surpassing the record payouts of 2007. Analysts estimate that Wall Street’s 2009 bonus pool could total $200 billion — led by Goldman Sachs’ $23 billion — as the New York Times reported today, the return to big bonuses will also allow Wall Street banks to claim billions in tax breaks:

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…Altogether, the top three Wall Street banks — Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley — will gain nearly $20 billion in tax breaks based on their employee compensation this year.

Compensation related tax deductions will total about $80 billion across Wall Street, according to New York City tax analyst Robert Willens. In 2008, Goldman Sachs paid an effective tax rate of just 1 percent thanks to a variety of deductions and keeping profits offshore.