Obama Looking To Slap Tax On Big Banks

President Obama will try to recoup as much as $120 billion of the money spent to bail out the financial system, most likely through a tax on large banks, administration and Congressional officials tell the New York Times.

The tax would be part of the federal budget the president will present next month.

The general idea is to devise a levy that would help reduce the budget deficit and discourage the kinds of excessive risk-taking among financial institutions that led to a near collapse of Wall Street in 2008, the officials said.

But the president also has a political purpose — to align himself with the growing number of Americans who are angry over the banks’ arrogant response to the government bailout that saved the financial industry from its own greed.

The tax would be announced just as the big banks’ are expected to report record profits and begin paying out huge bonuses even though millions remain out of work because of the financial crisis they caused.