Robin Hood needs glasses

[nefaria]

There's a movement afoot to create a new international Robin Hood tax: a fixed percentage tax on the principal of all financial transactions. For a variety of reasons, this is a very bad idea

Comments

[skwerlbuddy]

Bah. Did you send this to the newspaper? If you didn't, you should.

[nefaria]

Tempting, but the mutual funds company I work for probably wouldn't like seeing me put a letter in the paper that seems to ask for higher tax rates on capital gains and dividends. :/

[skwerlbuddy]

Oh well, I guess a sense of self-preservation does come in handy sometimes.

Just don't overdo it. That would make Buzzy sad.

[nefaria]

Buzzy's idea of self-preservation is Feloni sealing herself in a marmalade jar.

[gremy]

[deckardcanine]

That varies by legend.

BTW, Monday was UN Day. The fact that I didn't notice until it was over may say something.

[nefaria]

I'm not a fan of the UN. As a consensual diplomacy organization, it's fine. As a military and political organization, it's a disaster, and it seems to have delusions of being some kind of a world government.

[moxie_man]

Tax capital gains?!?! Those are anti-conservative words. (chuckle)

[nefaria]

Personally, instead of tax increases, I'd prefer the government lecture the banksters and hedge fund managers and other slime that the next time they screw up and lose all their money, the US taxpayers will not be coming to their rescue, then keep their word. And also remove all special treatments the ultra-rich get from the tax code, so they're treated exactly like the common folk.

Those two steps would do a far better job of keeping the rogues in line than extra fees and taxes.

[jordan179]

Would have been better to not force them to make marginal loans in the 1990's - 2000's, or failing that, to not bail them out in the first place. Words are meaningless if actions speak in the other direction.

[jordan179]

One more problem with the Robin Hood tax: we'd need some sort of international tax collection authority to enforce it, possibly as part of the United Nations. You do NOT want the United Nations to have worldwide taxing authority, seriously. Within twenty years, there will be an Americans Suck tax that'll drain half of our GDP and give it to countries like Somalia and Uzbekistan. The world wants the Americans' money as much as the poor Americans want the rich Americans' money, and in a worldwide tax environment, they'll be able to take it.

You left out the most fun part of this, from a wargaming perspective: what happens when the US decides to not pay this tax. Either the collapse of the UN, or global warfare. Whee!

[nefaria]

Just hoping we never get a president and Congress dumb enough to ratify it (or the president goes through sneaky backdoor channels to enforce it without Congressional approval).

Check out this lovely bit from Wikiepdia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_hood_tax), where a mere 0.003% Robin Hood Tax nearly shut down the entire Swedish bond market:
When a financial transaction tax was implemented in Sweden, the volume of bond trading fell by 85% in the first week after the tax was introduced, even though the tax rate on five-year bonds was only 0.003%[citation needed]. The volume of futures trading fell by 98% and the options trading market disappeared.[citation needed] On 15 April 1990, the tax on fixed-income securities was abolished. It is notable that the tax imposed an increased cost on government borrowing, and this may have influenced the decision to repeal the tax.[38]