Senators unveil bipartisan deal on stock trading ban
Senators unveil bipartisan deal on stock trading ban
A bipartisan group of senators reached a deal Wednesday on legislation to ban stock trading by members of Congress, setting the bill up for action in the Senate later this month.
You're viewing a single thread.
Bill dies in committee in 3, 2, 1...
Or allows their spouses to trade
Or has zero teeth
Etc
From the article:
The deal would immediately prohibit members of Congress from buying stocks and selling stocks 90 days after the bill is signed into law.
It would also ban member spouses and dependent children from trading stocks starting in March 2027. Penalties for violating the law would either be the monthly salary of a lawmaker or 10% of the value of each asset they buy or sell.
So a 10% tax?
Kickback*
Most taxes on asset sale is based on profit, subtracting the bought price from the sold price. Given the wording the tax would be on the sale price, not the profit.
So they just have to make more than 10% and they can still do it without a real barrier?
Or just make so much that the $174k salary they could be fined is a reasonable fee.
I don't think any of them become millionaires on their salary.
$170k a year is pretty good
More than pretty good, and certainly enough to accrue a million plus in assets over the span of a career.
But they sure do with their insider trading.
Sounds like zero teeth to me if the fine is just "the cost of doing business"
Spouses and dependent children only? Then it's time to call mom and dad! Also brother, sister, cousin, uncle, etc.
AFTER BEING SIGNED INTO LAW seems like a huge loophole to me. They can just trade while they're talking about it or right after it passes but hasn't been signed, etc etc.
That's how laws work. You can't generally make something illegal retroactively, otherwise you could change the law to persecute anyone you want.
How would you want them to approach it?
I dunno maybe they should be subject to more stringent rules like people at banks and such? If you can just trade your stocks right before you pass a law, what's the point of the new rule? That's part of why they're under fire in the first place isn't it? They have insider information. Saying you can't trade after the fact seems like it's too late to me. Maybe I didn't explain that well idk.
I understand your point, but that's what this law would theoritcally accomplish. It would limit representatives/senators from being able to trade stocks (a higher standard than an average citizen). While they can buy/sell stocks before the law, that's just the current state of affairs.
Regarding the timing of trades, etc. The value of their insider knowledge is really only beneficial over long periods of time. Yes they could buy/sell stock in the interim, but preventing it long term would be an actual win.
I don't disagree with you. Progress is progress. I just wish it was more.