“On the eve of Tax Day, as millions of Americans are still struggling with hard times and worrying about how to pay the IRS, some of the most prominent players on Wall Street held a press conference announcing that they were stepping up to support a financial speculation tax to “pay their fair” share and help put America back to work.”
As most Americans struggle to pay their share, we can’t help but notice that Wall Street is not. Many of the economic problems we face today, from deficits to unemployment, were in large part created by reckless and excessive speculation on Wall Street. It is therefore
Support for a Wall Street Speculation Tax has been spreading across the nation with more grassroots groups calling for a tax on reckless Wall Street speculation than ever before. To move forward on winning this policy change, we need members of Congress to step up and support Wall Street speculation taxes. Write your Senators and Representatives and ask them to support a Wall Street Speculation tax.
“In other places, it is known as a ‘Robin Hood Tax’ and ‘Tobin tax,’ named for Nobel laureate James Tobin, who proposed in the early 1970s a tax on currency conversions. …A scaled-back tax of 1% would raise more than $200 billion, according to Americans For Financial Reform.”
A Financial Speculation Tax ( or Financial Transaction Tax) would be a tiny tax on Wall Street trading in stocks, bonds, foreign currency, derivatives, and other complex financial products.
The Tax Plan That Occupy Wall Street Loves – Yuval Rosenberg (The Fiscal Times)
“In a letter to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the co-chairs of the congressional ‘super committee’ tasked with finding $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction measures by November 23, a group called Americans for Financial Reform, which is a coalition of more than 250 economic, union, and activist groups, explained why it’s backing the tax: ‘The deficit problem that the Select Committee must address was to a significant degree created by the world financial crisis, a crisis caused by Wall Street speculation.'”
Lawmakers to Propose Transaction Tax for Financial Firms Modeled on Europe – Phil Mattingly (Bloomberg)
“The AFL-CIO and National Nurses United, a professional association and union for nurses, have scheduled a rally in front of the Treasury Department on Nov. 3 in support of the fee. Americans for Financial Reform…is circulating petitions in support of the measure.”
AFR authored a letter in support of the Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act of 2011 introduced by Senator Harkin and Representative DeFazio.
Eliza Newlin Carney (Roll Call)
“After weeks of waving signs and chanting with no clear policy objective, Occupy Wall Street protesters finally have an issue to rally around: a tax on Wall Street. Known in Occupy movement parlance as the ‘Robin Hood tax,’ taxes on trades of stocks, bonds and derivatives are getting a fresh look on Capitol Hill and may draw thousands of protesters to Washington, D.C., next week. Helping lead the charge are an unlikely breed of tax activist: registered nurses. … ‘There [are] people in the streets angry about economic inequality, and angry about what Wall Street has gotten away with,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, which supports both bills.
Ryan Grim (Huffington Post)
“Boosted by the Occupy Wall Street movement, two Democrats in the House and Senate are renewing a push for a transaction tax on speculative trades. … Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of progressive and labor organizations focused on reforming Wall Street, threw its weight behind the tax in a letter to the super committee:”