Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. But since speculation by the big banks stole trillions in wealth from average Americans and devastated the world economy, I'd call a small tax on financial transactions more like taking our own money back.
That’s why I’ll be marching with tens of thousands of people in DC next week at the We Can End AIDS march – where the Robin Hood Tax movement will join the mobilization at the International AIDS conference to demand a small tax on Wall Street to raise hundreds of billions of dollars every year to fund health and get America back on its feet.
A tax on the financial sector has the power to provide funding for jobs and kickstart the economy. It could help save the social safety net in the US and around the world, and fund programs to make sure every American has quality, affordable health care.
It’s simple: The financial crisis and the recession have left a massive hole in the US’s public finances. Jobs and the community services we rely on are at risk in the US while many other developed and developing countries face a similar struggle. Robin Hood supporters believe that banks, hedge funds and the rest of the financial sector should pay their fair share to clear up the mess they helped create.
So Consumer Watchdog will be joining our allies at National Nurses United, along with hundreds of groups fighting for social justice, jobs, health care and an end to AIDS, to call on the President to support the Robin Hood Tax.
Marchers on Tuesday (the 24th) will meet at Mount Vernon Square at noon and march down New York Ave to the White House by 1pm. More information on the starting locations at wecanendaids.org/map.html.
The campaign merges two of Consumer Watchdog’s top priorities: holding Wall Street accountable, and making sure every American has quality, affordable health care.
While Americans and people around the world continue to struggle to regain jobs, savings and homes lost in the financial crash, Wall Street is embroiled in yet another scandal. This time bankers were caught manipulating interest rates to boost profits. Are you surprised?
It’s time for Wall Street to start to give back what it has taken from our country.
The Robin Hood Tax is a small sales tax — 50 cents per $100 on trading in stocks, and smaller assessments on bonds, derivatives and currencies — that could raise up to $350 billion annually in the U.S. The tax is aimed at the high-volume trading, not small investors, which today makes up a majority of all trades. In addition to generating much-need revenue, the tax would help limit the kind of reckless short-term financial speculation that helped cause the financial crisis.
