Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) introduced the Stop Subsidizing Multimillion Dollar Corporate Bonuses Act to close a major loophole in current corporate tax law that uses taxpayer dollars to fund lavish pay packages. The bill would specifically end special tax breaks for publicly traded companies that deduct the cost of any multimillion-dollar bonus paid
“All the defenders of the carried interest loophole are saying is that if you don’t let us get richer, we will not serve low-income communities, which is not an argument so much as it is extortion,” said Caroline Nagy, a housing policy specialist at Americans for Financial Reform.
Since its creation, the bureau has recovered over $21bn for defrauded consumers through enforcement actions against major financial institutions, including a $3.7bn order against Wells Fargo in 2022. There has been broad support for the agency, with a September poll from Americans for Financial Reform finding that 91% of voters believed it is important to regulate financial services to make sure they are fair for consumers – including 95% of Democrats and 87% of Republicans.
“Deemphasizing orderly resolution planning heightens the chances that floundering banks will be unprepared and more likely to fail,” said Patrick Woodall, managing director for policy at Americans for Financial Reform, a Washington-based coalition of consumer and investor advocates.”
Christine Chen Zinner, a senior lawyer at Americans for Financial Reform, a progressive advocacy group, called the consumer bureau’s attempt to overturn the settlement “bananacakes.” The appellate panel’s unanimous decision that the fair-lending law applied was a clear signal that the case had merit, she said.
Christine Chen Zinner at the nonprofit Americans for Financial Reform told Checkbook: “Consumers are voters, too.” She encourages “everyday people” to talk to their members of Congress to “elevate this agency into the public consciousness” so that it becomes “a political liability for any member of Congress who thinks it’s okay to continue dismantling the CFPB.”