Sarkozy, Merkel hail Darling’s move to impose bank bonus tax

Just a day after UK's chancellor of exchequer Alistair Darling imposed a one-time tax on banker's bonuses, French officials are pushing hard for a similar move to curb high levels of financial sector pay.

In his pre-Budget report on Wednesday Darling has come hard on banker's bonuses by levying a one-time 50-per cent super tax on 2009 bank bonuses above 25,000 pounds to mollify the widespread public anger against unreasonable payouts to bankers (See: UK to rein banker's bonus with 50-per cent super tax).

The tax applies to Britain-based subsidiaries of US banks and all forms of bonuses, including deferred stock.

The unilateral move by the Brown government has emboldened other leaders to take action ahead of what is expected to be a bumper bonus round for bankers.

In a joint article in the Wall Street Journal, UK prime minister Gordon Brown and French president Nikolas Sarkozy have appealed to fellow world leaders to impose a one-off tax on bankers' bonuses.

The leaders professed that the world's economies had a shared interest in taking coordinated action in financial services reform after the banking crisis.