The Government is expected to extend the scope of its controversial banker bonus tax to ensure that the City house of N M Rothschild and other banks with non-standard year-ends do not slip through the net, The Times has learnt.
The Government is expected to extend the scope of its controversial banker bonus tax to ensure that the City house of N M Rothschild and other banks with non-standard year-ends do not slip through the net, The Times has learnt.
Rothschild, which has operated in the heart of the City for two centuries, had been set to avoid the tax because, unusually among UK investment banks, it pays its annual bonuses in June, two months after the temporary tax is due to end on April 5 next year.
The Treasury is expected to extend the tax to placate rival banks, which argue that the timing quirk unfairly benefited Rothschild, and to forestall any accusations of favouritism. For decades Rothschild has been a close adviser to British governments and John Kingman, the senior Treasury official who helped to orchestrate the bank rescue programme and went on to head UK Financial Investments, which owns the state’s bank stakes, is joining Rothschild shortly.
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