OntheWilderSide

Green Party urges passage of Wall Street transaction tax

Occupy Wall Street leveled a challenge to the 1%:

We won’t pay for your crisis.

Until we get a Wall Street transaction tax, they’re not even helping to alleviate the mess they made.

The Green Party of the United States is calling for passage of legislation to impose a “Wall Street transaction tax,” which will

• stabilize the stock market,
• discourage reckless ‘casino’ trading, and
• generate revenue. 

Rep. Keith Ellison’s (D-Minn.) has introduced such a bill, titled the “Inclusive Prosperity Act” (http://ellison.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=907&catid=86).

As Ralph Nader noted in his endorsement of the bill,

A small financial transaction tax of 0.5 percent or less – depending upon the financial instrument being taxed – could produce hundreds of billions of dollars annually, perhaps as much as $350 billion. This revenue could be generated from a tax that would be minuscule – half a penny or less on each dollar of the transaction value.

(https://www.facebook.com/ralphnader/posts/559074687456801)

“Passing a securities transaction tax would be an effective step towards ensuring that the wealthy pay their fair share. The Green Party supports the principle that those who make money from speculation should contribute more than those who make money from hard work,” said Laura Wells, Green candidate for Governor of California in 2010.

“The 2008 economic meltdown revealed three things: how little Wall Street is held accountable for criminal recklessness and fraud; how little top corporations, especially Wall Street firms, pay in taxes compared to the rest of us, including zero taxes on the sale of securities; and the willingness of Democratic and Republican politicians, including President Obama, to bail out top Wall Street investors with our tax money while doing the minimum for people facing the loss of jobs and homes. A tax on securities trades would begin to correct these outrages,” said Ms. Wells, who has filed to run for California State Controller in 2014.

The Green Party’s national platform endorses such a tax: “Green Solutions… 4. Impose a financial transaction tax on trades of stocks, bonds, currency, derivatives, and other financial instruments.” (http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/2012/economic-justice-and-sustainability.php#FairCorporateTaxes)

The securities transaction tax would reward long-term investment by placing a greater burden on short-term speculation, which causes rapid fluctuation and instability in the market. New York State’s stock transfer tax which generates about $16 billion a year — which the state rebates to Wall Street speculators who treat the stock market as a casino. Greens oppose bailouts and rebates for speculators. (See “Hawkins Challenges Cuomo’s Silence on Halting NY’s $16 Billion Annual Rebate to Wall Street” from 2010 Green gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins, August 3, 2010, http://howiehawkins.com/2010/media-releases/121-hawkins-challenges-cuomos-silence-on-halting-nys-16-billion-annual-rebate-to-wall-street.html).

Greens have also called for restoration of economic protections like the Glass-Steagall Act; repeal of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which block regulation of complex high-risk derivatives and hedge funds; nationalization and breakup of “too big to fail” banks into smaller regional or state banks; and penalties for offshoring of accounts.

Greens support progressive tax plans, with a raising of the cap on Social Security. As the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports, currently “all states have regressive tax systems that ask more from low- and middle-income families than from the wealthiest” (“Who Pays?”, http://www.itep.org/whopays/).

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Related articles

• Time for a Sales Tax on Wall Street
• Ralph Nader: Time for a Sales Tax on Wall Street Financial Transactions
• Inside-outside Strategy on Wall Street Tax
• Americans Suffer While Finance Tax Waits For Congress’ Attention
• Statement Of Ralph Nader Regarding Rep. Keith Ellison’s “Inclusive Prosperity Act”
• Time for a Sales Tax on Wall Street Financial Transactions
• A Wall Street Tax

Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, Corporations, economy, Green Party, new york, News, nonviolence, Occupy Wall Street, politics, Press Release, progressive politics, Ralph Nader, US Politics Tagged: | Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, Financial transaction tax, Glass-Steagall Act, green, Green Party of the United States, Keith Ellison, Laura Wells, wall street