The ‘Fighting for a Financial Transactions Tax’ conference in Brussels is now tackling the operational detail of an FTT. All the speakers (see list at the end) are emphasising that FTTs are technically feasible – and more than that, vital. Read more »

   Filed under: Europe, Financial crisis, Tax, Transactions tax | 1 Comment »

European Green leader Philippe Lamberts MEP has spoken today about why Greens across Europe support the Robin Hood Tax. Joining the Europeans for Financial Reform conference on ‘Fighting for a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) – how and why?’ he stressed that the crisis wasn’t over, and that Europe’s people needed an FTT, not forgetting the north-south benefits of an FTT. He said an FTT was needed to make the economy work for people rather than the other way round.

Meanwhile International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Guy Ryder said that Governments around the world were asking “where the hell are we going to get the money from?” $700 billion a year was needed around the OECD to meet the costs of the recession, of climate change and of global poverty. The case for an FTT wasn’t just theoretical it was vital. Read more »

   Filed under: Europe, Financial crisis, Tax, Transactions tax | No Comments »

In a transatlantic video-press conference this afternoon, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka and European Socialists’ leader Poul Nyrup Rasmussen have emphasised the global demand for financial transactions taxes (FTTs). Trumka and Rasmussen put the call for FTTs in the context of wide-ranging financial reform.

But Trumka stressed the need for money to create jobs. FTTs would also raise over $100 billion in the US and would hardly touch small investors. He said that the US needs to find the money for – among other things – a major programme to create jobs. Without a financial speculation tax, a Robin Hood Tax or whatever, that programme couldn’t be delivered. “This is the first time that such a broad coalition has come together to seek financial reform in the interests of ordinary people.” Read more »

   Filed under: Financial crisis, Tax, Transactions tax | No Comments »

The FT is reporting today that the bankers’ bonus tax will generate £2.5 billion in revenue for the Treasury – nearly three times more than the Treasury itself expected.  Interestingly, those wise people around the Adam Smith Institute predicted that the tax would be avoided making the policy a meaningless gesture.  Or as ASI guru Madsen Pirie called it “political rhetoric largely empty of substance”.

Worth noting maybe that these are some of the same people making dire predictions about the impact of the Robin Hood Tax.

   Filed under: Tax | 2 Comments »

Funny thing, journalism. The Daily Telegraph reports today that the Japanese Foreign Minister has backed the idea of a financial transactions tax – following up earlier reports of support from more junior ministers. It then says that the idea has failed to gain “major traction among leading governments”. And then cites other supporters of the idea – UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. So, no leading Governments there then! The Japanese coming on board of course puts the Robin Hood Tax on the table in a majority of the G7 richest nations on the planet. The USA remains to be persuaded, but campaigners there, including the AFL-CIO, are working on that.

   Filed under: Environment, International development, Public spending, Tax | No Comments »

Giles, the free-thinking economist, describes me as amiable in his latest critique of the Robin Hood Tax.

I’m not sure my colleagues would agree with that, but I think I rather like that, so let me try an amiable response – though I fear that positions are now so well dug in that we are probably well beyond the point where any outcome other than amiably agreeing to disagree is possible. Read more »

   Filed under: Tax, Transactions tax | 10 Comments »

Duncan Green of Oxfam has a splendidly robust defence of the Robin Hood Tax against its detractors on his blog.

He is absolutely right that many of its critics have build vast superstructures out of arguments necessarily simplified to ensure the campaign goes wider than the wonk community.

And I share his (minor) criticisms of the campaign – but these are now being addressed.

The onus is still on the critics to come up with a better source of finance or justify big cuts, failed Millennium Development Goals and insufficient action to beat climate change.

   Filed under: Financial crisis, Tax, Transactions tax | 3 Comments »

Rewind almost three years and the trade union movement was embroiled in a bitter media spat with the private equity industry. In a portent of something much bigger, private equity firms were accused of playing fast and loose with high levels of debt to buy up companies they neither understood nor cared for in order to make a quick buck.

Trade unions are used to being patronised and dismissed. There have always been countless armchair policy-makers with an infinitely greater understanding of the real world (most of them have their own blog these days). But the ridicule aimed at the unions in the Summer of 2007 was often intense. Read more »

   Filed under: Financial crisis, Private equity, Tax | 1 Comment »

Opponents of the Robin Hood tax would no doubt like to portray us as lefties who do not understand finance.

But here is the Conservative candidate for Swansea West, René Kinzett, on Conservative Home

Without new ways to raise money like the FTT, sooner or later, the people, like my constituents in Swansea, who have already paid once for the crisis through lost jobs and public service cuts will be asked to pay again through rises in income tax or VAT.  This really isn’t fair. A financial transaction tax is the only idea on the table that would make sure that banks pay back some of the costs of the financial crisis.

And here is the asset management column in Financial News (though the RHT’s campaign is more about raising money) (hat tip Tom P):

The Government has its hands on a lever that would make short-term speculation markedly less attractive than long-term investment.

   Filed under: Tax | No Comments »

Richard Branson was in yesterday’s Evening Standard, voicing his support for immediate cuts in public spending to address the deficit:

“We are going to have to cut our spending and I agree with the 20 leading economists who said we need to start this year. The next government, whatever party that is, must set out a plan to reduce the bulk of the deficit over a Parliament by cutting wasteful spending and must not put off those tough decisions to next year. These factors threaten to undermine the confidence of international and UK business, UK consumers and the global financial markets. That could cost jobs and reduce investment in Britain.” Read more »

   Filed under: Public spending, Tax | 1 Comment »