State Owned Bank Shares Giveaway

State Owned Bank Shares Giveaway.

A thinktank is calling for state owned banks to distribute shares to taxpayers free of charge with a proportion of proceeds of future sales to be returned to the Government to cover costs.  The state currently owns 84% of Royal Bank of Scotland and 43% of Lloyds.

The report has said that a floor price should be assigned to the shares, which is the amount on each sale that is given back to the government and any profit to be kept by the shareholder after relevant tax.

In March a similar proposal was launched by Steven Williams, co-chair of the Liberal Democrats Treasury policy committee, which was then later backed up by party colleague Sir Alan Beith that would lead to the two banks shares being distributed to 46m people.
In opposition Chancellor George Osbourne floated plans the sell shares off cheaply to small investors.