US to slap assets tax on US financial sector

The top 100 US financial firms will pay a tax equal to 0.7 per cent of their assets, US president Barack Obama will outline in his State of the Union address tonight tomorrow night.

The measure is one of a number of tax proposals from Obama with a populist tinge and a part of a final year wrangle by Democrats with Congressional Republicans.

Bank taxes have popped up widely since the GFC, championed by the IMF.

The US, like Australia, has been out of step without a bank tax.

Under the proposal, financial firms with more than US$50 billion in assets will pay a fee based on liabilities. It will affect about 100 firms.

The levy is estimated to raise upwards of US$300 million.