Treasury forced to clarify banking bonus tax criteria
After pressure from the financial sector, the Treasury will this week reveal the small print regarding the UK government's banking bonus tax. There has been much confusion and much anger within the financial sector after it was revealed that not only will financiers fall under the spell of the banking bonus tax but support staff such as IT workers will also have tax deducted from their bonuses, if they total more than £25,000 in any one year.
There has been suspicion over the last few days that the UK government had quietly widened the net regarding the banking bonus tax to take in more financial sector related workers, something which was confirmed when IT support staff were confirmed as falling under the criteria for the tax. There is no doubt this will have a significant impact not only on the morale of those working in the financial sector but also the trust factor associated with the UK government in this most challenging of economic environments.
However, the UK government can ill afford to carry out yet another U-turn and will instead have to plough on with the initial plans although we could see some tinkering with the small print in the short to medium term.
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