‘Robin Hood’ tax plan floated
Tax on speculative financial transactions proposed
As controversy rages over the alleged role of bankers’ greed in causing an economic downturn, a large range of campaigning and faith-based groups are calling for a ‘Robin Hood Tax’ to take from the richest and give to the rest. They say that their scheme would raise £250 billion each year ‘to support public services, fight poverty, and combat climate change’. This would be raised by a tax of 0.05 per cent on speculative banking transactions – taking tax of only 50p on every £1,000.
The tax is described as a way of ‘turning a crisis for banks into an opportunity for the world’.
London commuters were some of the first to hear of the campaign early on the morning of 9 February, when they were encouraged to ‘be part of the world’s largest bank job’ with a 10-metre-high projection on the Bank of England’s outer wall. At the same time, political parties received letters from campaigners asking them to support the tax.
The Robin Hood Tax is described as ‘a simple and brilliant idea which transcends party politics and which – with your support – can become a reality’. It is supported by over fifty non-government organisations, trades unions, charities and religious organisations, including Christian Aid, CAFOD and the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.
But not everyone is convinced. Writing for the Daily Telegraph, Toby Young said that it was an unrealistic idea and that ‘no country is going to impose it unilaterally for fear of placing its own banking sector at a competitive disadvantage’.
However, the campaigners insist that their plan ‘isn’t some crazy pipedream’ but has been thought through. They add that international agreement on the tax is possible, given that several political leaders – including prime minister Gordon Brown, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel – have spoken positively of a tax on financial transactions.
John Marsh of the United Reformed Church said that the tax would ‘serve to shift the public discourse from blame and retribution to hope’. He added that ‘a governmental commitment to the common good is desperately needed in these stark times’.
