YouGov Founder's Blog

A YouGov poll for The Sunday Times found that 79% supported the windfall tax on bankers’ bonuses, with 11% against. The Chancellor announced the measure as part of his Pre-Budget Report (PBR) last Wednesday.

Bob Diamond, the president of  Barclays, said banks had done a “pretty poor job” of handling the bonus process, adding that his company would be deferring up to 60% of payouts — more than double the usual level.

It comes after Britain announced on Wednesday it was slapping a one-off 50-percent tax rate on bonuses above £25,000  amid public fury at 70 percent government-owned Royal Bank of Scotland awarding some £1.5 bn in bonuses for senior staff.

However, analysis of the tax suggests it might actually lose money for the exchequer. In the absence of the tax, say economists, bonuses would have been significantly larger and the bankers receiving them would have paid 40% tax. Now, with banks working to reduce or defer bonus payments, the income tax take will suffer, perhaps to the tune of £300m.

There have been rumours that some banks are considering paying their best-performing employees in benefits rather than cash this year; for example, paying their children’s school fees or their staff’s salaries.