It’s not right.
The Justice Department recently announced that Bank of America will pay
$16,650,000,000 in penalties to settle charges of mortgage fraud that led up to
the 2008 national financial meltdown.
I’m in favor of it, except the part I don’t like is that the settlement
doesn’t penalize even one of the people who did the wrongdoing. It just
penalizes the bank and its shareholders.
Here’s another part I don’t like: BofA is going to be able to write off
some of the huge fines as a tax deduction.
The New York Times reported that the bank might be able to shave as
much as $1.6 billion off its tax bill. In other words, that $1.6 billion—in rightful
taxes that the bank should pay—won’t be paid by the bank, so guess who has to
make up that shortfall in tax revenue. Try looking in a mirror.
A consumer advocacy group said this:
“The American public is expecting the Justice Department to hold the
banks accountable for its misdeeds in the mortgage meltdown. But these tax
write-offs shift the burden back onto taxpayers and send the wrong message by
treating parts of the settlement as an ordinary business expense.”
It’s not right.
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