The emotional appeal of a tax on all financial transactions is undeniable.

CAMBRIDGE European leaders are seriously considering a Tobin tax, which would put a small levy on financial transactions, thereby dampening trading.

With this battle won, the next worthy goal is a global financial transaction tax.

A domestically applied and internationally coordinated levy on international financial transactions This levy should be constructed in a way that does not impede on the efficiency and liquidity of financial markets.

Existing proposals include a Robin Hood tax on financial transactions, a share of the profits from the EU s carbon emissions trading scheme, or a larger take from value added tax receipts.

Support for a global financial transaction tax is growing.

An FTT is most suitable for such a venture for two reasons.

2210 Tax on foreign exchange transactions

CAMBRIDGE European leaders are seriously considering a Tobin tax, which would put a small levy on financial transactions, thereby dampening trading. But will the tax do as much as its proponents hope?

Recently, the IMF proposed a new global tax on financial institutions loosely in proportion to their size, as well as a tax on banks profits and bonuses.

As a result, the ultimate revenue gains are likely to prove disappointing, as Sweden discovered when it attempted to tax financial transactions two decades ago.

Taxing the Israeli Occupation

Revenue estimates for a small tax on international currency transactions run into hundreds of billions of dollars per year.

The third aim could be achieved country by country, but it is certainly arguable that an across the board banking levy, or a Europe wide financial transaction tax, would eliminate competitive distortions.

Consider, for example, a tax of 0.25 applied to all cross border financial transactions.

(97) Taxation of aircraft fuels

A tax on stock transactions encourages longer term holdings.

As a bonus, an FTT will curb destabilizing speculation in financial markets.

introduction of VAT on domestic fuel

A leading policymaker in the Anglo American empire of finance actually came out in support of a Tobin tax a global tax on financial transactions.

For example, a so called Tobin tax on financial transactions is a frequently proposed solution, but it is not a policy solution that could be implemented by corporate law judges.

Another possibility is that the Europeans concluded that an FTT s political advantages outweigh its economic flaws.

More broadly, FTTs violate the general public finance principle that it is inefficient to tax intermediate factors of production, particularly ones that are highly mobile and fluid in their response.

However, those countries wishing not to implement such a mechanism immediately could choose to make their contributions either through other instruments amongst the options available or through fiscal transfers.

But the FTT, despite its noble intellectual lineage, is no solution to Europe s problems or to the world s.

Put a price on carbon.

Financial transactions

(15) Emissions oriented motor vehicle tax (1st phase)

Of course, taxation of financial firms profits and bonuses should be made more similar to that of other economic activities.

In fact, it is worse than a straightforward carbon tax.

The European Union supports the initiative of a voluntary solidarity tax on air tickets.

Turner, voicing his concerns about the size of the financial sector and its frequently obscene levels of compensation, said he thought a global tax on financial transactions might help curb both.

It is true that Latin American governments, particularly the Brazilian authorities, succeeded in raising more revenue from taxes on bank withdrawals (a crude version of an FTT) than most policy analysts thought possible.

In plain English, an occupation tax is needed.

Developing nations should also push for a Tobin tax a tax on global foreign currency transactions.

In this regard, European finance ministers have reached an agreement to propose a voluntary tax on airline tickets to increase development aid.

After all, there certainly is a case to be made that an FTT has so much gut level popular appeal that politically powerful financial interests could not block it.

28. Tobacco tax to reduce heart disease and cancer

Owners of coal mines and their clients are thus strongly opposed to any tax on carbon.

The third change is a tax on the financial sector, in the form of a Financial Activities Tax on profits and remuneration at big banks that enjoy implicit government guarantees.

A Tobin tax would raise the cost of short term finance, some argued, somehow missing the point that this is in fact the very purpose of a Tobin tax.

The implication is that we should punish offenders rather than restrict gun circulation. Similarly, policymakers should ensure that financial market participants fully internalize the risks that they assume, rather than tax or restrict certain types of transactions.

It is time for an international tax on bank profits perhaps implemented as a levy on international financial transactions which would raise tens of billions of dollars each year.

True, great thinkers like John Maynard Keynes and the late Nobel laureate James Tobin floated various ideas for taxing financial transactions as a way to reduce economic volatility.

A tax on oil, however, does not entail excess burdens. On the contrary, it implies excess benefits .