By Mark Drajem. Bloomberg

A group representing the chief executives of Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other U.S. financial firms proposed increasing taxes to pay for expanded benefits for workers displaced by global trade.

The Washington-based Financial Services Forum proposed boosting taxes by $22 billion to give unemployed workers health insurance, job training and other benefits in addition to the six months of payments they can now receive.

The group said the plan is intended to ensure that the U.S. doesn't turn away from trade agreements and open investment policies.

``There are real risks and challenges that workers face,'' Matthew Slaughter, a former economic adviser to President George W. Bush and an author of the report released today. ``People are concerned about how they are doing economically.''

The report today by Slaughter, Grant Aldonas of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Robert Lawrence of Harvard University follows a report by the group last year on how to expand programs for workers hurt by global competition in order to head off protectionist sentiment in the U.S.

Those proposals drew praise from Democrats such as House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank. The new report was shared with the economic advisers to both presidential campaigns, said Rob Nichols, the group's chief operating officer.

The authors proposed scrapping a program that provides training and other assistance to workers harmed by trade. In its place they proposed a system that would provide health insurance, job training, payments and other benefits to all displaced workers.

Taken together the new programs would expand by more than 50 percent what the U.S. now spends on unemployment insurance and related programs.

That shortfall should be made up by removing the current cap on wages that are now taxed to pay for unemployment benefits and assessing a 1.32 percent tax on all wages. The change would mean workers earning less than $30,000 a year would pay lower taxes, the report says. Those making more would pay more.