Yesterday the plan was to scalp all bank accounts over €100,000 by 10%, and everybody else by 6.75%.
But now, the Cyprus’s government, just like in a Sham-Wow ad, right when you think has sucked up all the sanity, doubles the offer, and proposes a new plan to ease the burden of that tax on small savers:
According to two European officials familiar with the talks, the new proposal being floated by the government would see smaller depositors, those with up to €100,000, taxed at 3% rate—down from 6.75% as initially envisaged. Savers with €100,000 to €500,000 would be taxed at a 10% rate; and those with over €500,000 taxed at 15%, one official said.
Because the “small savers” are the ones who take to the streets, storm the banks’ doors, and riot.
Maybe the EU ought to be worrying about Putin, who’s not happy,
The deposit levy would be felt sharply by Russian financial institutions and companies which have large footholds on the island. According to Moody’s Investors Service estimates, Russian residents and institutions could lose around $2 billion if Cyprus goes ahead with this latest unconfirmed proposal to raise taxes on deposits.Russian President Vladimir Putin has strongly criticized a proposed deposit tax in Cyprus that could cost Russian financial institutions an estimated $2 billion as “unfair” and “dangerous,” his spokesman told news agencies Monday.
“Mr. Putin said that such a decision, if adopted, would be unfair, unprofessional and dangerous,” said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
We all know what happens when Vladdy is not happy.
Putin is nothing if not professional; he might even say “This is the business we have chosen”: