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From: Portside Moderator [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 4:49 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [SPAM] Robin Hood Tax Bill Introduced In Congress
Robin Hood Tax Bill Introduced In Congress
HR-6411: To Tax Wall Street; Real Revenue for Critical
National, International Needs
The Robin Hood Tax
September 17, 2012
http://robinhoodtax.org/latest
New York
The U.S. Robin Hood Tax Campaign today applauded the introduction in
Congress of a bill that would impose a tax on Wall Street speculation.
Introduced by Rep. Keith Ellison, HR 6411, the Inclusive Prosperity Act,
would raise up to $350 billion in annual revenues that would be used to
breathe new life into Main Street communities across America, as well as
international health, sustainable prosperity and environmental programs.
The legislation embodies the Robin Hood Tax, a 0.5% tax on the trading of
stocks, 50 cents on every $100 of trades, and lesser rates on trading in
bonds, derivatives and currencies.
It marks the return of a sales tax on financial transactions in place from
1914 to 1966 and targets the high-risk, high- speed trading that dominates
the markets.
"The American public provided hundreds of billions to bailout Wall Street
during the global fiscal crisis yet bore the brunt of the crisis with lost
jobs and reduced household wealth," said Rep. Ellison in a press statement.
"This is a phenomenally wealthy nation, yet our tax and regulatory system
allowed the financial titans to amass great riches while impoverishing the
systems that enable inclusive prosperity. A financial transaction tax
protects our financial markets from speculation and provides the revenue
needed to invest in the education, health and communities of the American
people."
The legislation's goal is to raise meaningful tax revenue dedicated to low-
and moderate-income families by strengthening the social safety net and by
expanding investments to protect health, rebuilding infrastructure and
creating good-paying jobs. The tax is also to target international needs,
including AIDS treatment, research and prevention and for other critical
assistance.
"Congressman Ellison is showing great leadership for our country," said
Jean Ross, RN, co-president of National Nurses United. "HR-6411 is a
critical step to generate the revenue for the healing and recovery our Main
Street communities across the nation so desperately need. From coast to
coast, nurses, health care, AIDS, environmental, labor, faith community and
other community activists have come together calling for a Robin Hood tax
on financial speculation so that Wall Street will help pay to reverse the
damage its reckless behavior caused to our economy. This is a small, common
sense tax, already in place and working wonderfully well in dozens of
countries across the world.
America is ready for the Robin Hood tax."
"Last summer, scientists proved that we can actually end the AIDS pandemic
if we just scale up our investment in treatment and prevention programs,"
said Jennifer Flynn, managing director of Health GAP (Global Access
Project).
"But when we go to Congress, all we hear about are budget cuts. We need
to increase revenue and the Robin Hood Tax is the best of all proposals to
do just that."
"This tiny tax on Wall Street will make our economy more stable and more
fair. The U.S. once had a Robin Hood Tax and we were better off for it,
it's time to bring it back," said Liz Ryan Murray, policy director for
National People's Action.
"In its essentials, the idea of a financial market transaction tax is
simple," said economist Robert Pollin, co- director, Political Economy
Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts- Amherst. "It would
mean that financial market traders would pay a small fee to the government
every time they purchased any financial market instrument, including all
stock, bond, options, futures, and swap trades. This would be the
equivalent of sales taxes that Americans have long paid every time they buy
an automobile, shirt, baseball glove, airline ticket, or pack of chewing
gum, eat at a restaurant, or have their hair cut."
The Robin Hood Tax also helps to control the volume of speculation engulfing
the financial markets, where risky bets are causing instability and
sidelining billions in funds that might otherwise be directed to a
productive economy. And the sales tax assists in curtailing speculation in
food and fuel markets, where bets on these essentials are causing spikes in
prices and serious shortages.
The introduction of H.R. 6411 came on the eve of the One Year Anniversary of
Occupy Wall Street. Occupy's call to stop the policies of inequality of the
1% continues to resonate across this country and beyond. Robin Hood Tax
campaigners today joined Occupy activists at a labor solidarity event at
Zuccotti Park in New York City, and then carried the message to offices of
financial institutions to demand imposition of the Robin Hood Tax.
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