AFR joined a letter to the House of Representatives urging them to cosponsor the Wall Street Tax Act of 2021, H.R. 328. Also called the Financial Tax Transaction Act (FTT), the bill would create significant revenues and reduce risk and volatility, reorienting Wall Street’s focus away from speculation toward long-term investments that support Main Street businesses, employees, and working families.
“The banks are larger now than they were before the bailouts, and the stench of corruption persists. As Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, put it, ‘The tone of the election as reminded many people just how deeply felt the frustration and anger is about the way that Wall Street has shaped the economy in its own interest.’”
“Hedge funds were major traffickers in the toxic securities that brought down the financial system eight years ago. Because many of them now market aggressively to pension funds and institutional investors, ordinary retirement savers can lose big when hedge funds fail to generate returns extravagant enough to justify their extravagant charges. More and more of these funds use stealth tactics to build up potent but undetected market positions, enabling them to aggressively bring about the results they’re seeking — results that serve their interests at the consistent expense of workers, communities, and the wider society.”
Ten euro-zone countries, including Germany and France, outlined the key points of their broad consensus on a harmonized transaction tax… ‘We are happy to see Europe moving forward on this critical financial reform and urge U.S. policymakers to follow suit,’ said Lisa Donner, Executive Director of Americans for Financial Reform. “
“‘A candidate could both support legislative change and tie commitments to that to how they’re thinking about appointments,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform. Donner added that it’s also important what kind of economic advisers candidates surround themselves with.”
“The push for a Wall Street transaction tax continues to gain traction in Washington. In a fresh show of support , a majority of the Democratic members of the House of Representatives voted today for the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s “People’s Budget,” which includes a transaction tax. The 96 votes cast in favor of the CPC budget are 8 more votes than a similar proposal received last year.”
“Americans for Financial Reform welcomes the President’s proposed tax on the liabilities of large banks. Since the tax would fall specifically on debt liabilities, it would create incentives against excessive leverage in the financial sector, while raising revenue as well… We also see the President’s bank tax proposal as contributing to a broad and emerging consensus on the appropriateness of taxing the financial sector commensurately with its profits.”
A senior House Democrat, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), moved today to put the idea of a Wall Street transaction tax firmly on the table of the national policy debate. Rep. Van Hollen’s proposal – along with a swift statement of support from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) – is excellent news. AFR also strongly supports a second element of Van Hollen’s plan, which would sharply limit the tax deductability of corporate pay above $1 million.
The U.S. should follow the lead of 10 European countries that are working out the details of a planned financial transaction tax, Public Citizen, Americans for Financial Reform and Stamp Out Poverty said today. “A transaction tax can raise significant revenue, cut down on dangerous high-frequency trading, and incentivize Wall Street to serve real economic needs,” AFR’s Jim Lardner said. “It is time for the U.S. to get on board.”
A Capitol Hill briefing with JARED BERNSTEIN, Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; former chief economist to the Vice President; SARAH ANDERSON, Global Economy Project Director, Institute for Policy Studies; DAVID HILLMAN, Director of Stamp Out Poverty and Founder of the Robin Hood Tax Campaign (UK); ANDREW HANAUER, Campaigns Director, Jubilee USA Network; HEATHER SLAVKIN CORZO, Director of the AFL-CIO Office of Investment; and ROBERT WEISSMAN, President of Public Citizen.