JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is confused about why people are considering constructing guillotines in Lower Manhattan.
“Acting like everyone who’s been successful is bad and that everyone who is rich is bad, I just don’t get it,” Dimon said. “Most of us wage earners are paying 39.6% in taxes, and add in another 12% in New York state and city taxes, and we’re paying 50% of our income in taxes.”
Isn’t it interesting that Mr. Dimon thinks he is still paying the same marginal income tax rate that he paid under President Clinton? Someone should tell him that he’s actually paying 35%, which is the highest rate under the Bush tax cuts. If he isn’t even noticing the difference then maybe he and his banking buddies can tell the Republicans to stop resisting the president’s efforts to return to the 39.6% rate for the wealthiest two percent of wage earners. But, let’s get real. Mr. Dimon was only paid a one million dollar salary last year. He received a $5 million bonus. He also got “nearly $8 million in stock awards and $6.2 million in option awards.” And, the best part?
When you take into account his salary and bonuses, then add in the stock options exercised in 2010 based on previous awards — that is, stock given to him at depressed valuations across 2008 and 2009 — Dimon pulled in around $42 million.
So, he made $42 million last year. And what percentage of that income was taxed at 39.6%? The answer is zero percent. What percentage was taxed at 35%? I don’t know the answer to that, but probably not much more than a sixth of it. The vast majority of his income was measured as capital gains, which have a 15% tax rate for investments held for more than a year.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Bush tax cuts blew a $2.2 trillion hole in the budget in the period between 2002 and 2010. That represents a third of all deficit spending. And the beautiful thing about it is that Mr. Dimon didn’t even notice that his tax rate had dropped.
Every day that goes by with the government looking to slash programs that help working people while people like Jamie Dimon complain about being demonized, brings us a day closer to when those guillotines actually get erected and put to use.
