The budget crisis in our country has hit an extreme. States across the country are cutting education, social programs, funding for homeless shelters, and police stations. The property taxes and local taxes are being raised.
Ironically, Speculators do not have to pay for financial purchases, including the high-risk derivatives and credit default swaps. Most of the income increase in the past 30 years has gone to the richest 1%. While the normal household is paying 10 percent tax on normal household items, the rich are not paying anything to purchase stocks and bonds and swap. Economists Dean Baker and Robert Pollin estimated that about $353 billion dollars a year could be made from a financial transition tax and Ralph Nader stated that 1/10th of a percent tax on derivative transactions would gather about $500 billion a year as well.
Many countries around the word have a successful FTT in place that creates revenue to help mend the deficits. The financial industry has say in Government, and they claim that it will kill jobs. The boost of revenue in circulation will create more money to put back into the economy for consumer spending and help with the growing deficit. This tax would also regulate irresponsible spending that helped contribute to the financial collapse and they could help reimbursement America for the bailouts.
Title: How Come Ordinary People Need to Pay Sales Taxes but Wall Street Speculators Don’t?
Author: http://www.alternet.org/authors/8554/
Source: Alternet , February 23, 2011
URL: http://www.alternet.org/news/150020/how_come_ordinary_people_need_to_pay_sales_taxes_but_wall_street_speculators_don%27t?page=entire
Student Researcher: Katie Havens, Sonoma State University
Faculty Evaluator: Noel Byrne, Sonoma State University