The British government announced a one-time tax on bankers' bonuses as it laid out plans for the country's ravaged economy ahead of a looming general election.
Treasury chief Alistair Darling said Wednesday it was payback time for banks that lost a combined 80 billion pounds ($130 billion) last year and needed taxpayer-funded bailouts to stabilize the system.
The 50-percent tax on bonuses above 25,000 pounds ($40,800) could prove popular with the general public, with Britain the only major economy still in recession and Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour party trailing the opposition Conservative Party in opinion polls for an election that must be called within six months.
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