Financial regulatory reform uses multiple complex provisions to force banks to raise capital and lower risk. Today, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) offered his support for a blunter instrument: a bank tax.

“I think the administration’s proposal is a common-sense way to make sure that money should be repaid, and I believe it should be included in financial reform legislation to be considered on the Senate floor,” Schumer said today at a Senate Finance Committee hearing.

In January, President Obama proposed taxing big banks’ profits at 0.15 percent, both to pay for the multi-billion dollar cost of bailouts and to deter risk-taking. Today, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the head of the Senate Finance Committee, said he would hold hearings on the proposal. But Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) has thrown water on the idea of attaching the bank tax to the broader financial regulatory reform bill due to be taken up next week.

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