Implementation of the so-called Robin Hood Tax has taken a step
forward as the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, has included a
version of it – the financial transactions tax (FTT) - as part of his
budget plan 2012-2015.
He suggested that the European Commission has a hesitant attitude
towards FTT and urged the Commission to flesh out the details of such a
tax.
He rejected the argument that a global agreement (at G20 level)
was needed before implementing it.
On March 8, the European Parliament passed a resolution by a vote of
529 to 127 urging the EU to promote the introduction of FTT. It is
suggested this would raise around €200 billion per year in the EU and
would also discourage speculative trading by making it more costly.
Money raised from the tax could be used to fund health services and
education for the less well off in individual European countries as well
as to address global issues such as poverty and climate change.
The
next step should see the European Commission produce a feasibility study
and concrete legislative proposals.
Social Justice Ireland (SJI) urged the Commission to act swiftly, and
has welcomed the decision of the European Parliament and the German
finance minister.
The justice group stated, “There is growing support
worldwide for the introduction of a tax on such speculative exchange
transactions. The Tobin tax, proposed by American James Tobin, the
Nobel Prize winner in economics in 1981, provides a potential solution.
It is a progressive tax, designed to target only those profiting from
currency speculation. Therefore, it is neither a tax on citizens, nor
on business. Given the recent world economic experience, the tax also
has merit in assisting Governments and regulators to continually monitor
the risk that financial institutions are taking.”
SJI explained that the recent proposals in the UK for a Robin-Hood
Tax represent a further development of these proposals. The rate would
be determined by each country enacting the tax, but the range
recommended for market calming and revenue-raising outcomes is between
0.1% and 0.25%.
“According to the United Nations, the amount of annual income raised
from the tax would be enough to guarantee to every citizen of the world
basic access to water, food, shelter, health and education.
Therefore,
this tax has the potential to wipe out the worst forms of material
poverty throughout the world,” states SJI.
“We believe that the time has come for such a tax, It would
simultaneously facilitate, and perhaps fund, the required regulation of
financial speculation while providing substantial funds to adequately
address the world development issues highlighted in the Millennium
Development Goals.”
Oxfam is among supporters of the Robin Hood Tax, and in advance of
the EU finance summit this week, it released a survey showing that a
majority of people in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy support a
Robin Hood Tax.
The survey conducted in six EU countries showed that
more than 80 per cent in each country, ranging from 82 per cent in the
Netherlands to 90 per cent in Spain, believe banks, hedge funds and
other financial institutions have a responsibility to repair the damage
caused by the economic crisis they helped to cause.
Oxfam is campaigning that the tax will raise funds to help poor people hit by the economic crisis and to tackle climate change.
“This poll shows that a Robin Hood Tax on banks’ financial
transactions could be the most popular tax in Europe’s history. People
are sending a clear message to their leaders: banks have not done enough
to atone for their sins,” said Elise Ford, Head of Oxfam
International’s EU office.
She added that people across Europe clearly believe their governments
should make the financial sector pay to help people hit by the economic
crisis.