The Robin Hood Tax - Summary
Business Tax: Reading Week Notes
The Robin Hood Tax * The idea behind the RHT is to generate hundreds of billions of dollars
* That money could be used to kick-start the US economy and get America back on its feet
* The RHT = 0.5% tax on Wall Street transactions
* Benefits:
* It won’t affect the vast majority of Americans * It’s easy to enforce * It’s tough to evade * It taxes those who are to blame for the global financial crisis, rather than the average American * It will help limit riskless speculation that threatens financial stability
* The RHT is seen as justified as “the banks can afford it”
* “It’s not a tax ON the people, it’s a tax FOR the people”
* It will be implemented using a Financial Speculation (or Transaction) Tax (FST/FTT)
* The FST is a small tax of less than half a percent on trades in derivatives, stocks, bonds and foreign currency
* With an FTT, a small percent (between 0.005% and 0.5%) of the value of the trade is collected in tax revenue
* The tax will deter the most risky transactions and prevent some of the “gambling” which helped trigger the financial crisis
* Why is the RHT needed? The financial crisis has left a massive hole in the US’s public finances and this needs to be filled. The money raised will generate jobs and strengthen public services
* The money can also be used to fund new Green projects to help curb global climate change
* Disadvantages
* The article is incredibly biased so it downplays this point: the tax will affect regular investors as well which could discourage normal people from investing * The tax will affect the value of pension funds, possibly discouraging trading which would see the value of pensions of many normal American’s fall * Banks may just past the cost of this tax onto the consumer * The affected companies may just move their business offshore or start trying
The Robin Hood Tax * The idea behind the RHT is to generate hundreds of billions of dollars
* That money could be used to kick-start the US economy and get America back on its feet
* The RHT = 0.5% tax on Wall Street transactions
* Benefits:
* It won’t affect the vast majority of Americans * It’s easy to enforce * It’s tough to evade * It taxes those who are to blame for the global financial crisis, rather than the average American * It will help limit riskless speculation that threatens financial stability
* The RHT is seen as justified as “the banks can afford it”
* “It’s not a tax ON the people, it’s a tax FOR the people”
* It will be implemented using a Financial Speculation (or Transaction) Tax (FST/FTT)
* The FST is a small tax of less than half a percent on trades in derivatives, stocks, bonds and foreign currency
* With an FTT, a small percent (between 0.005% and 0.5%) of the value of the trade is collected in tax revenue
* The tax will deter the most risky transactions and prevent some of the “gambling” which helped trigger the financial crisis
* Why is the RHT needed? The financial crisis has left a massive hole in the US’s public finances and this needs to be filled. The money raised will generate jobs and strengthen public services
* The money can also be used to fund new Green projects to help curb global climate change
* Disadvantages
* The article is incredibly biased so it downplays this point: the tax will affect regular investors as well which could discourage normal people from investing * The tax will affect the value of pension funds, possibly discouraging trading which would see the value of pensions of many normal American’s fall * Banks may just past the cost of this tax onto the consumer * The affected companies may just move their business offshore or start trying