I guess there are still some places in the world, where the 'will of The People' still matters ...
European Union Financial Transaction Tax -- wikipedia.org
The European Union financial transaction tax (EU FTT) is a proposal made by the European Commission to introduce a financial transaction tax (FTT) within some of the member states of the European Union initially by 1 January 2014, later postponed to 1 January 2016. The tax would impact financial transactions between financial institutions charging 0.1% against the exchange of shares and bonds and 0.01% across derivative contracts, if just one of the financial institutions resides in a member state of the EU FTT.
To avoid an unwanted negative impact on the real economy, the FTT will not apply to:[1]
1) Day-to-day financial activities of citizens and businesses (e.g. loans, payments, insurance, deposits etc.).
2) Investment banking activities in the context of raising capital.
3) Transactions carried out as part of restructuring operations.
4) Refinancing transactions with central banks and the ECB, with the EFSF and the ESM, and transactions with EU.
The proposed EU financial transaction tax would be separate from a bank levy, or a resolution levy, which some governments are also proposing to impose on banks to insure them against the costs of any future bailouts. The tax that could raise 57 billion Euros per year if implemented across the entire EU[2] was however a controversial topic for the EU member states to agree upon ever since it was first time debated in June 2010.[3] In October 2012, after discussions had failed to establish unanimous support for an EU-wide FTT, the European Commission proposed that the use of enhanced co-operation should be permitted to implement the tax in the states which wished to participate.[4][5] This framework proposal, supported by 11 EU member states, was approved in the European Parliament in December 2012,[6] and by the Council of the European Union in January 2013.[7]
[...]
And in the US of A -- we get
Bupkis ... and a nod, and a wink, and then several "
must accept" Ransom demands.
No messy Debates required.
Ask the average American, and they would tell you: "Yes, it is long past time that we make Wall Street pay its fair share."
... long past time that our corporate shills in congress, consider the Revenue potential of that "untapped resource," just as our counterparts in the EU have done. Why can't we do that here in the US?
you know ...
Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Bill (sponsored by Peter DeFazio (D-OR))
wikipedia.org
[...]
These are the elements of his proposal:[5]
• Stock transactions would be assessed a tax of one-quarter-of-one percent (0.25 percent)
• The tax on futures contracts to buy or sell a specified commodity of standardized quality at a certain date in the future, at a market determined price would be 0.02 percent
• Swaps between two firms on certain benefits of one party's financial instrument for those of the other party's financial instrument would pay a 0.02 percent tax
• Credit default swaps where a contract is swapped through a series of payments in exchange for a payoff if a credit instrument (typically a bond or loan) goes into default would also pay a 0.02 percent levy
Revenue Estimate for US -- Financial Transaction Tax[6]
US total $123 - $246 B (US$ billion)
To ensure the tax is appropriately targeted to speculators and has no impact on the average investor and pension funds, the tax will be refunded for:[7]
• tax-favored retirement accounts
• 401(k)s
• mutual funds
• education savings accounts
• health savings accounts
• the first $100,000 of transactions annually that are not already exempted
[...] a December 2010 Tulane Law Review article by Richard T. Page, who has suggested that imposing a financial-transactions tax in response to the 2007-2010 economic downturn would be "foolish revenge".[3]
[...]
No Mr. Page, a FTT in the US
would NOT be "foolish revenge" -- it would be "
smart insurance" against the 2007-2010 economic downturn,
happening again -- now that Congress has once again 'green-lighted', the same complex
risk-free instruments so commonly sold in the hey-days 2000-2007 Wall Street casino.
No betting capital, No problem ... Wall Street marketeers, can front you "all the margin-chips" you need, to make your get-rich-quick dreams come true. That's their specialty afterall -- "selling the Dream."
And taking our taxpayer Bail Outs -- they're pretty good at that too. That "risk-free insurance" Dream of theirs still alive and well ... and kicking.
Thanks to last minute GOP Riders, and the compliant Dem marsh-mellows, who will do anything "the Demand-makers" say.
If Wall Street shills and their Pension Fund dupes,
are going to take such huge risks "to play,"
then they should also have to take some minor pains "to pay,"
that they don't once again decimate our earned assets,
in one grand nobody-could-have-predicted Collapse:
By enforcing this simple solution: Financial transaction tax.
Call it proactive "insurance" against any "future PBGC collapse,"
just as the "the must-pass Demand-makers" are calling it these days ...