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SIFMA today released the following statement from Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., SIFMA president and CEO, on the bank tax included in the proposal released last night by the White House:
"Over the past six years, the Obama Administration, Congress, regulators and the financial services industry have undertaken unprecedented steps through legislation, regulation and corporate changes to address concerns about excessive risk in the financial sector. These changes, many already in place and more in formation, have resulted in dramatic increases in quantity and quality of capital held against risk by financial institutions, the means by which to resolve failing systemic institutions without taxpayer funds, new rules and restrictions to mitigate risk from multiple financial products, new laws and rules that will and have altered the corporate structure of financial institutions, new rules that limit exposure among financial institutions, new rules that limit leverage of financial institutions, and industry-driven changes in business practices.
"The imposition of a special, sector-only tax on the vast array of financial institutions captured by the President's proposal under the guise of further limiting excessive risk completely ignores the changes this Administration, Congress, regulators and industry have implemented over the past six years.
"Tax rules are often blunt instruments, and the tax code is not the place for a broad, new, and duplicative financial regulatory regime. This $110 billion targeted tax increase on America's most productive financial institutions could have far-reaching unintended consequences that will curtail economic growth and job creation while negatively impacting the allocation of credit and the provision of financial services to individuals and institutions."
