Robin Hood Tax Campaign Launched In U.S

The Robin Hood Tax movement, which has gained a strong following in the UK and several other countries, launched their U.S campaign yesterday. The Robin Hood Tax – which gets its name from the legendary British folklore character Robin Hood, who robbed from the rich to give to the poor – is calling for a financial transaction tax. Check out this brilliant viral made by Richard Curtis and Bill Nighy about Robin Hood Tax – it makes a very convincing argument indeed.

Robin Hood Tax supporters claim that by taxing financial transactions by the smallest amount – a 50-cent tax on every $100 of stock trades and less on other financial transactions – could raise billions of dollars to invest in jobs, healthcare, housing, education, combating poverty and climate change.

Thousands of leading economists have leant their weight to the idea, including Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia University’s Jeffrey Sachs and the Economic Policy Institute’s Lawrence Mishel.

The concept behind Robin Hood Tax is not a new one, in the U.S every sale of transfer or stock was taxed by the government between the years of 1914 and 1966. However the recent economic depression has given this old idea a new found momentum. All over the world, people believe it is about time that the financial market did something to help society and politicians are slowly starting to realize this too. German chancellor Angela Merkel said introducing a financial transactions tax would be “the right signal to show that we have understood that financial markets have to contribute their share to the recovery of economies.”

I think the realization is finally starting to dawn on world leaders that the people will not tolerate bankers being awarded massive bonuses while the rest of us struggle to survive.

Read more: What’s The Robin Hood Tax (Via Dangerous Mind)

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