The Robin Hood Tax campaign — set up to push for the introduction of financial transaction taxes — has built a massive online following in just two weeks.
The campaign now has almost 120,000 fans on Facebook with more than 3,000 joining every day. This is almost four times more than the combined total of the three main UK political parties and almost twice as many as the US Democrats.
More than 61,000 people have voted in favour of the tax on the campaign’s website
www.robinhoodtax.org.uk with just 6,100 voting against — a margin of 10:1 in favour. Their verdict is supported by more than 350 economists who have signed the letter, including Professor Jeff Sachs, special adviser to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
Let me be clear: crowds can be wrong.
But the point about this is the desire for change is strong.
The detail is not the issue: not all those 120,000 will know or understand it. I accept that. But they are saying they want change and they want change that stops abuse by banks of the world we live in.
That's the key point.
And those who oppose this tax have not as yet offered alternatives that I have seen that are credible and come near to addressing the issues - which are not just about revenue raising but about market reform.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Surely the best way to obtain reform of the market is through effective regulation rather than a gimmick tax that depends on global agreement and enforcement – and looking at the situaiton with the Euro, it seems to me that if we cannot achieve effective regulation and enforcement in the EU, the chances of achieving it globally are slim.
Surely it’s not either / or but both?
The problem in the UK with our financial regulation is that it was ineffective after the FSMA. The break up of the banking regulation with the consolidation of regulators in the FSA was, I believe, a mistake that will take years to resolve – a return to multiple regulators is not practical and it is practical solutions that are needed.
It is for those who want a financial transaction tax to persuade those who think it’s a gimmick that there is some sense in it … not for those who believe it is a gimmick to say what the alternatives to it are. What is required is effective regulation of risk within the financial services, not a tax on financial transactions that will increase the margins that I pay when I go on holiday or add to the stamp duty that I already pay when investing.
The overwhelming problem, it seems to me, with a global financial transaction tax is that it won’t be global, it will not be enforced and many people in my profession will look for ways to avoid it … and my money would be on them succeeding not on those who say that it can be effective and achieved.
You lawyer’s really do have no conscience, do you?
It is the law that is without conscience …
With the greatest of respect that is a foolish statement
[…] discovering that the Robin Hood Tax has more Facebook fans than all of the main political parties put together, Robin sent an arrow out to all of his merry followers asking them to make their MPs get merry at […]
[…] Look at what’s happening right now with the threatened closure of BBC 6Music or the Robin Hood Tax campaign to give you an idea of the power social media has when it’s got a […]