{"id":6279,"date":"2010-03-03T11:20:36","date_gmt":"2010-03-03T09:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=6279"},"modified":"2010-03-03T11:20:36","modified_gmt":"2010-03-03T09:20:36","slug":"listen-to-the-arguments-on-financial-transaction-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2010\/03\/03\/listen-to-the-arguments-on-financial-transaction-taxes\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen to the arguments on financial transaction taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loved by the good | ToUChstone blog: A public policy blog from the TUC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nigel Stanley has, as I have before, waded into the debate on financial transaction taxes and the anti-union diatribe being pursued about it by Giles Wilkes on the Lib Dem (and seriously pro-free market) Freethinking Economist blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As Nigel says, much of the criticism of what we have had to say has been aimed at straw men - things we have not said.<\/p>\n

As he also says, those who seek to make this a union bashing issue (as Giles seems wont to do, unfortunately) also miss the point, the TUC plays but a small part in this.<\/p>\n

And those who seek to say it's a one trick pony are also wrong. Nigel says:<\/p>\n

Given our work on tax avoidance and evasion at the TUC, I don’t think anyone would accuse us of going soft on tax dodging. Our work \u2014 and that of groups like Christian Aid and Tax Justice - has helped put this on the policy map.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Quite so.<\/p>\n

I think Nigel correctly concludes, peeling off many layes of the oinion when doing so:<\/p>\n

The RHT is therefore an indirect tax that firstly targets the institutions that did most to cause the crash and who have made super-profits, and secondly, is a progressive indirect tax that is hard to evade. It can make a significant, though only partial, contribution to finding the funds we need to avoid cuts, meet the Milennium Development Goals and tackle climate change.<\/p>\n

That is how it should be judged, and while I have rarely been involved in a campaign where I didn’t squirm a little at some of the arguments of allies, that is what I happily endorse.<\/p>\n

Giles has argued very well <\/a>that now is not the time to make spending cuts as that will risk recovery, but I suspect that when it comes to dealing with the structural deficit \u2014 he is mainly a cutter, while we are mainly progressive taxers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have a strong suspiscion that is true.<\/p>\n

And Nigel's words are wise.<\/p>\n

Disclosure: I've known Nigel for many years. I have never knowingly met Giles Wilkes. I advise the TUC, including on financial transaction taxes. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loved by the good | ToUChstone blog: A public policy blog from the TUC. Nigel Stanley has, as I have before, waded into the debate
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transaction-taxes","category-tuc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}