Wall Street bonuses may see cuts

Wall Streets banks and brokerages may cut bonuses by 20 percent this year. Governor David Paterson said that each 10 percent reduction in bonuses costs the state $350 million in tax revenue, and the state could lose $1.7 billion from Wall Street’s falling profits. Last year, New York’s financial service firms paid $33.2 billion in bonuses, for an average of $180,420 per employee, according to the state comptroller. The 2007 figure was 2 percent lower than the record $33.9 billion of the previous year.