1/4% Tax on all stock trades pushed in NY Times today

I love this part of the article:

Turner triggered controversy in August when he first floated the transaction tax idea. “Some financial activities which proliferated over the last 10 years were socially useless, and some parts of the system were swollen beyond their optimal size,” he told the gathering.

Michael Spencer, chief executive officer of London-based broker ICAP Plc, joined the chorus of critics in late November. "Using his logic, I presume he would describe Porsche as socially useless for making cars that go twice the speed limit or Jimmy Choo for making shoes in dozens of different colors.”

 

And further down:

"Turner is mostly unrepentant. While his words may have been imperfect, he now says, he stands by the sentiments behind them.

“I wish I had said ‘economically useless’ rather than ‘socially useless,’ as it would have been more precise,” he says. "

To call the trading "economically useless activity" is even bigger blunder on his part. It's up to the Mr. Market to decide what is economically useless and what's not.

 

Amen!

 

The high profile actions need to be targeted towards members of congress, especially those who are members of a committee currently holding the bill. THEY are the ones that need to be persuaded as to why the tax is harmful to their own constituency. Persuade enough of them & the current bills die a quiet death, just like the prior ones, and we sit back & get ready to pounce again when the idea comes up again. Remember, this tax idea will come up again & again. Killing the idea this time does not ensure it's gone for good. It'll be back. And so will we.

The areas to look at over the next several weeks include:
(1) The results of the retreat that the Democratic Party is currently engaged for signs of tax talk.
(2) The State of the Union speech.
(3) Talk of a Bipartisan Commission to attack the National Debt via spending cuts & new taxes.

Let's hope the coming weeks are as quiet as the past few have been.

 

I think we need to keep our eyes out for anything related to the FY2011 budget as well (due out soon). Also Obama is supposed to lay out some suggestions for reducing the deficit in his State of the Union address so that could be interesting...

Great job with the thread and it's nice to see all of us working together to defeat this monster

-Guru

 

This from Politico:

Exclusive: Obama budget likely to include (as yet undetermined) fee on banks to help taxpayers recoup cost of bailout:

Jan 11, 2010 05:57 AM EST

EXCLUSIVE: Top administration officials tell Morning Money that President Obama's budget, to be unveiled next month, is likely to include a fee on banks designed to recoup some of the cost taxpayers incurred in the bailout, which specified that the U.S. government should be made whole. This will stop short of a financial transactions tax, and the administration has decided that a tax on compensation packages would be too easily evaded. The officials said the final approach has not been locked down. The chief goal is a fee that is not easily passed along.

Jan 11, 2010 05:57 AM EST


EXCLUSIVE: Top administration officials tell Morning Money that President Obama's budget, to be unveiled next month, is likely to include a fee on banks designed to recoup some of the cost taxpayers incurred in the bailout, which specified that the U.S. government should be made whole. This will stop short of a financial transactions tax, and the administration has decided that a tax on compensation packages would be too easily evaded. The officials said the final approach has not been locked down. The chief goal is a fee that is not easily passed along.

http://www.politico.com/morningmoney/
-Guru

 

Didn't the TARP law stipulate that repayment would be something that would be addressed in year 5 if gov't wasn't paid whole? Is this plan to included money flushed down the proverbial toilet when Obama pissed away money trying to make GM and Chrysler whole? Wasn't cash-for-clunkers and home tax credit allocated from TARP funds? Better to tax banks than FTT, but looks like they are eyeing Wall Street as the panacea for their budget woes.

 

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is due to start 13 January & "will continue during 2010 with 'hundreds' of persons in business, academia, and government testifying, leading to a report due in December 2010".

Purpose is to examine the causes of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States, including:-

(F) tax treatment of financial products and investment
:eek:

something to keep an eye on this year...

 

I would pay a lot to see De Fazio , Baker et al faces in front of this piece of news...LOL

 

We need to come up another name for this tax: "How to make active investors on main street pay for wall street bailout".

We (active investors) get nothing on the bailout. Now De Fazio want us pay for Goldman bailout?

Goldman and other big banks are likely to get market-maker or broker-dealer exemptions!