Ewan McGregor, Radiohead and Bill Nighy are the latest to join the campaign for a Robin Hood Tax on the financial sector.
McGregor and Radiohead created a Youtube video.
The movement has been growing since the credit crunch first hit, demanding that bankers and hedgies should repay the vast amounts plundered from the global economy. Off-Grid.net has been calling for a “Pay it Back tax.” A powerful new coalition of charities, trade unions and church groups argue that a Robin Hood tax could generate $700bn (£450bn) worldwide. The tax would see 0.05% levied on each bank and hedge fund trade ,ranging from shares to foreign exchange and derivatives, creating a cash pile to be spent on measures to combat domestic and international poverty as well as fight climate change.
The Guardian and comedian Bill Nighy have just released this video
The tax has long been demanded by campaigners but brushed aside by politicians and bankers as an impossible dream. Buoyed by the support of the UN, Gordon Brown last year became the first global leader to publicly call for its introduction as a way for banks to compensate society for causing the global financial crisis.
The main argument in favour of a financial transaction tax is that it would raise a large sum of money painlessly, and would help to limit the sort of speculative attacks being seen on vulnerable countries such as Greece and Spain. Because turnover in the global financial markets is so enormous, even a tax levied at 0.05% on every trade could raise $400bn (£255bn) a year – enough to double foreign aid, provide $100bn a year for poor countries to adapt to climate change, and leave $100bn over for rich countries to reduce their deficits. Politically, a Tobin tax has become more attractive as governments have woken up to public anger at the banks deemed responsible for the crisis, and to the budgetary cost of clearing up the mess. Those in favour say it is only fair the banks should pay.
7 Responses
A UK trading firm adopted the Robin Hood Tax voluntarily for a week. The result? they raised over 10,000 euros and did not notice any problems with liquidity or trading volume. they didnt even notice the tiny hit to their profit margin.
What they did notice was the massive positive publicity they received, the overwhelming outpouring of thanks, and the great feeling they got from helping others by donating the money.
Tax consumption of luxury goods. Earmark those funds for those who, despite hard, honest work, are loosing the means of survival.
these financial ‘experts’ are the greatest parasites ever, tax them to the max, at the same time as we say, poor people should not get children that are growing up for future poverty. Stop living in a dream, world!!!!
/agree with the above
The economy isn’t like a cloud; money doesn’t rain down from the top onto those on the bottom. It’s more accurately described as a loop. Money moves between government, people, and business. Affecting any part of the loop will have consequences for the other parts, i.e. a tax on the banking sector will have repercussions elsewhere. Where? I can’t say, but this idea seems to simple to be effective.
No, taking from the “business” sector is just taking from people. People who own companies, who employ people, who make products or supply a service. If their costs go up, our consumer costs go up.
The smoke and mirrors theories about taking from big bad companies forgets that people work at those companies, get medical benefits from them, a paycheck and we get products & service. Stiff them and we will have the cost passed on to us. That is reality.
If you want money back into the system, phase our the income tax and make a flat tax for consumption with only the necessities, food and clothing, not taxed. Anything else should have a tax. It would be fair to everyone. If you want the item, you pay for it. If you buy a lot then you must have a bigger disposable income and you mpay more in taxes. If you don’t have a big disposable income and only buy necessities, you don’t pay tax. That would be more fair. there would be more incentive to save, less government in your life, no more huge IRS +less government workers needed to be paid by our money, and an obvious easy way to figure out exactly how much you are spending.
The banks did not create the financial crisis. Governments did, by interfering with freedom of contract, by requiring banks to make loans that self-interest would have discouraged, by leading banks to believe (correctly) that Gov would bail them out of losses, and by continuously and unpredictably debasing currency (stealing value from all users of money) by creating it out of thin air.
Taxation is theft. Let us say two of my buddies and I show up on your doorstep (with guns), and tell you that the four of us will vote on how to spend your money . Democracy, yay! My buds and I all vote that you have too much, and we need it. You vote against, too bad, a 75% landslide says we get what used to be yours. Are you still applauding?
Theft is theft. If you think a cause should be supported,use YOUR money, don’t get together with a bunch of other thugs and take mine.
Now, the real Robin Hood of myth stole from those described as “the rich”, but in fact the abbotts and sheriffs were THE GOVERNMENT, and had themselves stolen the wealth by or under threat of force.
What we need is NOT more theft, and more destruction of initiative and self respect by inevitably incompetent and corrupt government theft and subsequent handouts.
We need sound, specie-based non-manipulatable money, and freedom and enforceability of contracts.
How can you call it PAINLESS? If the banks are paying this tax, then they are feeling the multiplication of a whole bunch of little transactions and would certainly feel the pain. Then, they would simply turn to us to ease their pain by increasing their rates.
Here is a better way to raise funds for charities PAINLESSLY:
https://www.pandscorp.org/moreinfo.html
https://www.pandscorp.org/Pandscorpvision.html
It talks about utilizing internet banner ad comissions, and PPC revenue from a designated website. This way people are earning comissions on THEIR OWN PURCHASES and donating this to their favorite cause or charity. No one is forced to do anything, and these comissions are being payed out anyway.