By Brian Faler March 6 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Senate is unlikely to vote on a measure that would impose a 50 percent tax on bonuses awarded last year to executives of Wall Street firms bailed out by the government, a top Democrat said. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said yesterday that, while he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the tax proposal would be voted on as an amendment to a jobs bill, the “chances are low” because of opposition from lawmakers in both parties. “Some Republicans don’t want it; some Democrats don’t want it,” Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said in an interview. Asked what he thought of the amendment, he said “it’s a jobs bill” and “we can’t solve all the world’s problems with one bill.” Jessica Smith, a spokeswoman for Democratic Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, a sponsor of the tax proposal, agreed that a vote is “not looking likely.” Under Senate practice, lawmakers from the two parties negotiate which proposed amendments to a pending bill will be allowed floor votes and which will be dropped. Webb and Senator Barbara Boxer , a California Democrat, have been pushing the amendment that would tax the portion of bonuses topping $400,000 given to executives at banks that received at least $5 billion from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. The effort by the two senators sparked a last-minute lobbying campaign by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Financial Services Roundtable and other groups opposing the plan. The Chamber of Commerce, in urging lawmakers to reject the idea, said in a letter it “would likely hamper efforts to resolve the ongoing financial crisis, restore economic growth, spur job creation and is likely unconstitutional.” The $150 billion jobs measure the Senate is debating would extend unemployment benefits through the end of this year, provide state governments with $25 billion in aid, extend a package of miscellaneous tax cuts and postpone scheduled cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors. Democrats said they aim to complete work on the bill by early next week. To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Faler in Washington at or bfaler@bloomberg.net
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Baucus Says Bank Bonus-Tax Proposal Is Unlikely to Get Vote in U.S. Senate
