美國彭博社14日報道，美國政府一位高級官員表示，美國總統奧巴馬計劃周四提出一項金額高達900億美元的大型銀行征稅方案，以保護納稅人對銀行的援助資金免受至多1170億美元的損失。

Obama's proposal to protect taxpayers

US President Barack Obama is proposing major American financial firms pay a fee to protect taxpayers from up to 117 billion US dollars in bailout losses. This comes amid mounting public anger over multi-million dollar bank bonuses and the billions of dollars taxpayers coughed up for bank bailouts.

US President Barack Obama said, "My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed. And my determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people."

The levy will recoup losses from the 700 billion dollar taxpayer rescue of U.S. banks called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. The program was implemented in 2008 at the height of the global financial panic. By imposing a fee on big firms with assets of more than 50 billion dollars, the government expects to raise 90 billion dollars over the first 10 years. Banks that have already repaid TARP money will not be spared the fee, nor will firms that received no TARP money. The president's proposal still needs Congressional approval.