Showing How US Can Stand Up to Wall Street, Europe Advances ‘Robin Hood Tax’
(COMMON DREAMS) Deirdre Fulton, December 9, 2015 — Ten European Union countries agreed on Tuesday to some aspects of a so-called “Robin Hood Tax” on financial transactions, offering a model for U.S. politicians who have thus far showed little resolve on standing up to Wall Street high-rollers.
“Now it’s time for U.S. policymakers to also stand up to the Wall Street bullies.”—Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies
As Reuters explains, a financial transaction tax (FTT) “is intended to recover some of the public money used to support banks [and] to curb speculative trading.”
The “core principles” agreed to by finance ministers from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain reportedly include a tax on derivatives and all shares transactions, including intra-day trading.
These small taxes, their proponents say, would discourage short-term, purely speculative trading while generating significant revenue.