Wall Street ready to claim billions in tax breaks on bonus payments.

2009 closed with the stock market rebounding 61 percent from its March lows, and "Wall Street is ready to pat itself on the back for its huge gains with big bonuses," potentially surpassing the record payouts of 2007. Analysts estimate that Wall Street's 2009 bonus pool could total $200 billion - led by Goldman Sachs' $23 billion - as the New York Times reported today, the return to big bonuses will also allow Wall Street banks to claim billions in tax breaks:

Compensation related tax deductions will total about $80 billion across Wall Street, according to New York City tax analyst Robert Willens. In 2008, Goldman Sachs paid an effective tax rate of just 1 percent thanks to a variety of deductions and keeping profits offshore.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/01/tax-break-bonus/