US president Barack Obama was due to announce levies on as many as 50 financial firms with assets greater than $50 billion each as part of the government’s aim to cut its deficit and recoup bailout cash, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed official.

The levy would commence on 30 June, which the administration predicts could raise $90 billion over a minimum of 10 years. Media reports earlier this week said the government was considering taking such a step, which responds to public anger that banks, which have been bailed out by the taxpayer, have in some cases made big profits and are due to pay bonuses to staff.

Yesterday, bankers reacted with anger and disbelief to the planned levy, saying that they have already made strenuous efforts to repay bailout money and are being unfairly blamed for the financial crisis. Bankers fear that a broad political assault on their industry and its practices fails to deal with underlying causes of the credit crunch, such as errors by the Federal Reserve, capital imbalances between the West and Asia, regulations and government housing policy.

In its story today, the news agency said Mr Obama plans to outline the proposal late this morning at the White House. A more detailed plan will be included in the budget message he is due to send Congress in February.

“Using tax policy to punish people is a bad idea,” JP Morgan’s chief executive Jamie Dimon was quoted as saying at a recent congressional inquiry. “All businesses tend to pass their costs on to customers.”

Companies including JP Morgan, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley were among the biggest beneficiaries of the government’s bailout. All of them have repaid the money, apart from Citigroup, official figures show.