News Release: AFR and Take on Wall Street Coalitions Applaud Inclusive Prosperity Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 22, 2019

 

CONTACT:

Carter Dougherty

carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org

(202) 251-6700

AFR and Take on Wall Street applaud the Inclusive Prosperity Act

 

Washington, DC – On Wednesday, Senator Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Lee (D-CA) introduced the Inclusive Prosperity Act, a bill that would impose a sales tax of 50 cents, 10 cents, and 1/2 a cent per $100 on each trade of stock, bonds and derivatives respectively. In the case of individuals of modest means who trade directly or through brokers, the legislation would provide an income tax credit to offset the speculation fee. This small fee on financial transactions would play an important role in curbing high-frequency trading, reducing risk and volatility in financial markets and would raise up to $220 billion per year. It would push Wall Street away from extremely short term speculation, and towards longer term investments that can contribute to the real economy, as it also requires Wall Street to pay more of its fair share in taxes. AFR and Take on Wall Street join 28 other organizations in endorsing this legislation.

“Today, Wall Street firms make money from high-frequency, speculative trading, often holding financial instruments for minutes, seconds or even milliseconds. Rather than drive productive investment into the economy, high-frequency trading only serves to make some traders enormously wealthy, while posing a risk to financial stability.” said Marcus Stanley, Policy Director with Americans for Financial Reform.

“Working families pay sales taxes on almost everything from a pair of shoes to a can of soup, yet Wall Street traders aren’t subject to taxes when they buy or sell financial products. In fact, not only is Wall Street being allowed to trade tax-free, they are skimming off profit from the real economy by using high-speed, algorithm-based trading which has no social value,” said Luísa Galvão of the Take on Wall Street campaign. “We applaud Representative Lee and Senator Sanders for introducing the Inclusive Prosperity Act, a step toward making Wall Street pay its fair share in taxes and actually invest in the real economy rather than gamble with it.”

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