Financial Transaction Tax (10 votes)
If the gigantic financial transactions of the last few years had been taxed, even at 0.01%, it would have brought in huge revenues for governments.
It might also discourage high-frequency speculative deals.
So, governments should impose a higher tax on all transactions of this kind.
This was a Brighton We20kender Plan
| Scope : | National |
| Timescale : | short-term |
| Who : | Government |
Comments on This Plan
Actually, the proposed tax is not on all financial transaction, but just derivative transactions. I got this idea from Ralph Nader:
"[A] Wall Street derivative transaction tax... would raise about $500 billion with a one-tenth of one percent sales tax on $500 trillion or so of derivative transactions last year alone. I mean, people in state after state, as we speak, are going into stores and buying things they need and paying five, six, seven percent sales tax, but today someone can buy $100 billion or $100 million of Exxon derivatives in Wall Street and pay not a dime in sales tax. " (http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/18/lawmakers_vow_to_recoup_millions_in)
And the proposal should be for a 0.1% tax, not 0.01%, as I said at our We20 meeting.
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