Wouldn’t they have to pay tax twice anyway? First the 90% tax, and their AGI at the end of the year would reflect their bonus which would result in the income getting taxed again, in which case, if the money wasn’t returned, they wouldn’t have income to pay for the second tax. Unless they are allowed to claim exemption on the bonuses because they were already taxed, but then you would hear of public outrage about the AIG execs getting exemptions on their bonuses (even though they already have been taxed)
Not sure where I was going with that...