# British banks face £6bn US tax bill



## John999 (Jul 6, 2009)

British banks face £6bn US tax bill

Three British banks, including part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland, face paying more than £6 billion to the US government under its new stringent tax regime. 
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RBS, which is 84%-owned by the UK taxpayer, is in line for a potential hit of almost £600 million over the next 10 years, according to The Times.
US president Barack Obama unveiled the new tax on Thursday, saying banks must pay for the cost of bailing out institutions impacted by the financial crisis.
He said the new Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee would ensure that American taxpayers were "fully compensated for the extraordinary assistance they gave to Wall Street".
The levy will hit UK banks with major US operations, with RBS, Barclays and HSBC among the most exposed. Barclays is understood to be on the hook for a possible £3.4 billion levy over the next decade, while HSBC may reportedly have to fork out £2.3 billion.
If approved by Congress in the US, the tax will force around 50 banks, insurance companies and large broker-dealers to pay around £55 billion over 10 years.
It is thought that around 10 to 15 will be US subsidiaries of foreign banks.
There have already been calls for Gordon Brown to follow Mr Obama in imposing a similar tax, which appears to go far further than the one-off 50% levy on bonuses over £25,000 that has been announced in the UK.
Labour backbencher John Mann, who sits on the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, said Mr Obama's announcement gave the Chancellor an opportunity to go even further in recouping the cost of the bail-out - estimated last month by the National Audit Office at an "unprecedented" £850 billion in the UK.
The US tax announcement was timed ahead of the start of Wall Street's reporting season on Friday, with JP Morgan Chase expected to unveil a multibillion-dollar bonus pot after a bumper 2009.


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