Super tax on banker’s bonuses unjustified, says CISI survey

Sixty-one per cent of financial services practitioners believe the super tax on bankers' bonuses imposed by Chancellor Alistair Darling is unjustified, a survey by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) shows.

In his pre-Budget report, the Chancellor unveiled a one-off 50 per cent tax on bank bonuses over £25,000. Respondents to the CISI survey were invited to give their views and a concern raised by many was that the tax could force bankers to leave the UK.

"This is blatant electoral opportunism and will see wealth generators leave this country in their droves," said one opponent of the measure while another warned "in the long term, talent will be driven away, London will be less competitive and we will no longer be at the forefront of the financial industry."

Other comments included:

"Most of the people working in this industry are both diligent and competent. I cannot understand how it is fair or ethical to target a specific group of individuals to apply a different rate of tax to their earnings purely on the basis of who their employer is."

"No account has been taken of the longer-term impact this and similar measures will have on the City of London and other highly productive sectors of the British economy."

Among the 39 per cent of respondents supporting the tax, comments included "it is important that the industry cleans itself up" and "most bankers would not have a job without the direct input of public money."