Yesturday, newspapers all reported that right now the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, is considering a tax on bankers' bonuses. We (38 degrees) have been campaigning together for months now for action to rein in bonuses, and this is great progress.

But the banks are fighting back. They're using all their lobbying power to try to stop the Chancellor's plans, even claiming that taxing their bonuses would breach their human rights. [1]

The government says it will make its decision "in the next 48 hours". [2] That means we've got 48 hours to outweigh the banks' lobbying pressure. Together we need to send Alistair Darling a clear message that after the taxpayer has spent billions bailing out the banks, it's only fair to put a tax on their bonuses.

Tell Alistair Darling we want him to stand up to the banks:  http://www.38degrees.org.uk/bank-bonus-tax

Many families in the UK are facing a tough, recession-hit christmas. Millions of people have lost their jobs or their homes, or suffered the worry that it might happen to them. Meanwhile, over 5000 bankers are currently expecting to get a bonus of over £1million. [3]

The banks played a lead role in causing this crisis and it took a huge amount of taxpayers' money to rescue them. Yet even banks largely owned by the taxpayer, like RBS, are putting heavy pressure on the chancellor to allow them to hand out record amounts of taxpayers money in bonuses.

Together we've been campaigning for the government to make sure that the recession doesn't hit the poorest hardest. Just last Friday we handed our petition to the Chancellor calling for him to commit £4 billion to stop more children falling into poverty. A tax on bankers' bonuses is one of the ways the Chancellor could raise the money he needs to protect children from the worst effects of the recession. Together we can push him to make sure that banks start to pay back the money they owe us.

Tell Alistair Darling we support a tax on bank bonuses:  http://www.38degrees.org.uk/bank-bonus-tax



Thanks for being involved,

Hannah, David, Johnny, Nina, Warren, Katy and the 38 Degrees Team Hannah



NOTES

[1]  http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/pbr/article6946739.ece

[2]  http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/07/pre-budget-report-bank-bonuses

[3]  http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/03/bankers-executive-pay-bonuses-criticised