The North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, or better known as NATO, is holding its Summit in Chicago this
week. Anti-NATO protestors have made the
Summit a major security concern for the city police.
Amongst some of the protests were
groups who were calling for a “Robin Hood” tax on banks and other financial
institutions.
According to Robinhoodtax.org they are
seeking ½% of 1% on trades of derivatives, stocks, bonds, and foreign currency exchange.
“You can think of it as a sales tax—the
sort of taxes we all pay when buying clothes or other goods. In fact, for every $100 ordinary Americans
spend on goods they pay an average of $9.64 in taxes. What a Robin Hood Tax asks for is that when
the big banks and investments are trading they pay a tiny tax of less than 50
cents on $100 of trades. In many cases
it’d be less than a ½ a cent on $100. Surely that is not too much to ask?”
So, essentially the idea is that in
order to clean up the mess that the American economy is in, we would tax the financial
sector to assist in cleaning up everything?
It is quite an interesting concept especially to target one specific
industry for cleaning up a financial crisis.
Obviously, people believe that the
financial sector caused the meltdown, thus they should have to pay for it. Also, they believe that it is a tax that is
past due and the financial industry is under taxed to start.
What are your thoughts? Could a tax on one specific industry change
our financial situation as a country?
How is your personal situation? We are
always willing to meet with you even if it isn’t tax season.
David Rocci
Disclaimer: Every effort has been taken to provide the most accurate and honest analysis of the tax information provided in this blog. Please use your discretion before making any decisions based on the information provided. This blog is not intended to be a substitute for seeking professional tax advice based on your individual needs.