To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
TAX WALL STREET—NOT THE POOR!
We urge swift passage of the HARKIN-DEFAZIO WALL STREET SPECULATOR’S TAX ACT which targets high-volume, high-speed speculators while exempting retirement and educational savings.
This tax of $3.00 per $10,000 traded (0.03%):
1. Provides significant TAX REVENUE ($350 Billion/9 years);
2. Cools super-computer trading for MARKET STABILITY;
3. Curbs OIL and FOOD speculation to calm wild swings in consumer costs;
4. Creates a DODGE-PROOF TAX so Wall Street pays their fair share;
5. Rewards LONG-TERM INVESTMENT, not short-term profit-taking; and
6. PAYS BACK the American people for bailing them out at taxpayer’s expense.
Why is this important?
Wall Street has been an engine for income inequality. It is time it became an engine for growth in the real economy where 99% of Americans live.
We need to return Wall Street to its original purpose of serving as a bridge between investment and American businesses that create jobs. No more gambling with other people’s money instead of investing in America!
Out of four deficit-reducing proposals, this “Robin Hood Tax” is estimated to bring in Six Times As Much ($352 Billion) as the nearest option, President Obama’s Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee at $61 Billion. [Financial transaction tax: JCT 2011 estimate of “Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act” (S. 1787, H.R. 3313)]
The timing is perfect because the European Union is enacting a Financial Transactions Tax in eleven Eurozone nations (90% of the Eurozone GDP) including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Belgium. Thirty nations have transfer taxes including Australia, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and the UK. The United States is behind on using this easy-to-collect tax to help solve our deficit as many other nations are doing.
Wall Street used to pay its fair share and there was “Prosperity for All”. We need to require it of them now when it is “Austerity for All--Except for Them”.
[For more information on Financial Transactions Taxes, see the page of articles by the Center for Economic and Policy Research: http://www.cepr.net/index.php/issues/fst/]