JPMorgan CEO Says Rich Should Pay "Lion's Share" of Taxes

According to JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, the rich should pay the majority of taxes in this country. He made the statements on Tuesday at a meeting of the Council of Institutional Investors. Head of the financial powerhouse also said that if “we are no tvoluntarily fiscally responsible, we will be involuntarily fiscally responsible.”

Reuters reports:

Dimon, who also backed getting government spending under control, spoke as Republicans and Democrats failed to reach agreement during White House talks aimed at forging a budget deal that would keep the U.S. government operating beyond Friday.

On Tuesday, House Republicans also unveiled a plan for tackling long-term budget shortfalls that focuses on slashing spending including what goes to Medicare and Medicaid.

"I for one have no problem, as a well-off American... paying taxes," Dimon told the annual spring meeting of the Council of Institutional Investors.

"I think those well off should pay a lion's share, I have no problem with that," he said. "But I think we can't just go on endlessly spending money."

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FDIC Opposes $1.4 Billion Refund for JPMorgan

From the Associated Press:

Federal regulators are opposing a proposed $1.4 billion tax refund for JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The tax benefit has become an issue a year and a half after the Wall Street titan galloped in to buy the assets of Washington Mutual Inc. when it collapsed under bad mortgage loans and became the biggest bank ever to fail in the U.S.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized Seattle-based Washington Mutual and sold its bank assets to JPMorgan for $1.9 billion.

JPMorgan has been involved in the bankruptcy reorganization proceeding for Washington Mutual's holding company, and had reached a compromise earlier this month with the FDIC.

Under that accord, JPMorgan agreed to turn over about $4 billion in disputed WaMu deposit accounts to Washington Mutual in return for a portion of the tax refunds expected from the fallen bank's prior operating losses.

JPMorgan would get the right to the $1.4 billion and creditors of the WaMu holding company would get the most of the remaining $2.7 billion refund.

Under economic stimulus legislation enacted late last year, money-losing companies — in this case WaMu — can use their losses to get refunds of taxes paid in the previous five years. That was an expansion from the previous two-year allowance for calculating refunds.

JPMorgan Chase Gets Ohio Tax Break To Create 1,000 Jobs

From BizJournals.com:

JPMorgan Chase & Co. was awarded incentives by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority to help the bank create 1,000 jobs in Columbus.

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) will save about $14 million during 15 years under the terms of a state incentive approved Monday. The financial services company also is set to gain $8.3 million in tax credits and cash from the city of Columbus.

The company received the 15-year, 75 percent tax credit against its state tax obligation in exchange for its pledge to create 1,000 jobs in Columbus and 150 jobs in Westerville during the next five years. About 900 of those jobs would be created during the next three years.

The state tax deal requires the company to keep the jobs in the region for 30 years.

Columbus has offered JPMorgan Chase two incentives that would bring in an additional $4.5 million in the city’s coffers over eight years, according to the city.

A proposed eight-year, 35 percent Job Growth Incentive from the city would return an estimated $2.5 million of individual payroll taxes withheld to the company over the term of the incentive. The city also has offered a 10-year, 65 percent Job Creation Tax Credit worth $5.8 million over the term. That credit would be applied against the company’s corporate income tax obligation to the city.

City Council will consider the incentive package in May.

Nearly 11,000 of the current 14,000 JPMorgan Chase jobs in the region are in Columbus and nearly 3,000 jobs in Westerville, according to bank spokesman Jeff Lyttle.

About 8,000 jobs are at the company’s operations center at Polaris Centers of Commerce and about 3,000 are at Easton, he said.

The distribution of the jobs at office buildings in Columbus and Westerville remains unclear.

“There’s still some moving parts to settle,” Lyttle said.

JPMorgan Chase also is considering sites in New York, Michigan, Louisiana and Texas.