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

^^Link to the site? Wonder if mine was posted, I did get an email from them confirming. They also said only ones with valid contact/address info will be posted.

in other news,
***timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7026317.ece

seems like the debate could be starting up again, lets hope it does. With a few researchers using already defeated evidence to get money from governments to fund there research, and were called out on it, plus the emails that were released... Seems like a big hole in the TT bucket, not breaking news but...

 

12+ hours ago, the site definitely advertised "Comments submitted as of February 15, 2010. (showing 26 earlier comments, with no inclusion of those known to have been sent in since January 24 publication, and before closing date of February 1, 2010).
Twelve hours later, it reverted to:
"Comments submitted as of January 24, 2010." (showing original 26 comments).


Try googling -

... is seeking views from the public on the matter of

and scroll down the page for the site.

Curious.

 

FT Lex column coming on Japan favoring transaction tax

so a bloomberg tv segment which teased the column coming tomorrow just said

I am sure everyone saw the japan support for the tax

http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...taxes-on-financial-trading-minezaki-says.html

The FT columnist described the tax's recent "success" in Brazil

 

FT letter supporting Trans tax

From Mr Peter Cave.

Sir, You report on certain individuals from the financial world arguing strongly against the proposed “Robin Hood tax” on banking transactions (“Robin Hood tax seen as stealth levy”, February 13).

The arguments so far are based on the claims that the tax will be passed on to customers and/or would stimulate avoidance tactics, and that it would damage liquidity. Of course, those claims can be made against virtually all taxes on financial transactions – and, indeed, the first two apply to virtually all taxes, be they on business or individuals.

The arguments, then, if consistently applied, would commit the opponents to the curious conclusion that all taxes should be abolished. This supplements another curiosity regarding the opponents’ position, namely deeming the tax a “stealth tax”. In view of the publicity being given to it, it is hardly stealth; and in view of the apparent considerable support for it, would it not be better to open eyes and call it a “popular tax”?

Peter Cave,
London W1, UK

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a046d0fc-1b63-11df-838f-00144feab49a.html

 

From everything I've read and heard it's full steam ahead on some sort of direct levy on the banks themselves (an insurance type levy) and not any sort of Tobin Tax. Even if Japan is for the tax I don't think that really means much in the end. There is no way to get a global consensus on this. They will have a hard enough time getting a global concensus on a banking levy directly on the banks (IMHO).

Also just because this one person from Japan says they should institute a Tobin Tax doesn't mean that Japan is actually for the tax. I'm not sure how their goverment works but I would think it would have to voted on, etc?

-Guru

 

SCENARIOS - Bank tax idea gains traction,
still ill-defined

"LONDON.WASHINGTON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - World
leaders want banks and financial firms to pay up for
goverment interventions - past and future - to
stabilize the international financial system. While
details are sketchy, some form of bank balance sheet
tax appears to be gaining ground."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1222538620100216

-Guru

 

So Tobin is now big in Japan, ey? Notice how their viral anti-capitalist campaign travels further and further east... I suspect that some atoll in French Polinesia would be their final destination.

But Japan has already withdrawn from similar measures, i.e. brokerage commission controls. Before 1994, "brokerages charged clients fixed rates set by exchanges, which varied according to the size of the transaction, starting at 1.150% for trades under 1 million yen and declining with trade size to 0.075% for trades exceeding 1 billion yen" (see Liu and Zhu 2009). The reasons cited by the authors are interesting for modern Japanese Tobin followers:

1) the desire to maintain competitive position internationally ("commission rates in the U.S. and U.K., two major competitors, were fully deregulated in 1975 and 1986, respectively"),

2) the desire to boost internal competition (within the brokerage industry) and eliminate various methods of "Tobin tax evasion" ("fixed commission rates discouraged price competition in the securities industry and led some big Japanese brokerages to compete by improper business practices such as compensating institutional investors for their investment losses.3 Deregulation of commissions should help intensify competition in the securities industry and increase transparency of securities trading."

And all that anti-tax argumentation from the only empirical pro-tax paper in existence. I cited it together with Schulmeister, because nothing convinces stronger than your own side's admission of failure ("This finding contrasts with the previous evidence that implies a positive relation between transaction costs and price volatility")

And Tobin (1978) did want to tax international trade as well (not merely speculative currency exchanges, as his desciples would have you believe): "It would have to apply, I think, to all payments in one currency for goods, services, and real assets sold by a resident of another currency area. I don’t intend to add even a small barrier to trade. But I see offhand no other way to prevent financial transactions disguised as trade"

So when it comes to such a general FTT tax, Japan's role would bear strong resemblance to Germany's role in the EMU, i.e. a net payer... I mean it is hilarious that the strongest calls for the "sand in the wheels" tax should come from small island economies which are by definition most dependent on international trade (both due to scarcity of natural resources and home populations being too small for producers relying on economies of scale). And Japan in particular has the most to lose from such trade frictions, because it imports all its raw materials, exports all its industrial output, lends out all its currency to carry traders, and purchases foreign bonds for all its official reserves

 

"HUGE profits posted by banking giant Barclays underline the need for a “Robin Hood” tax on financial transactions, Welsh Secretary Peter Hain said yesterday.

Mr Hain is the first Cabinet member to back the high-profile campaign for a tax on the trade in foreign exchange, stocks, bonds and their derivatives."



http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/w...rs-in-call-for-robin-hood-tax-91466-25849564/

 

We really need the IMF to come out with their proposal(s) for a direct levy on the banks asap so we can quiet all these Tobin Tax fanatics once and for all. It seems every article I read keeps pointing to the IMF report due out in April. I really hope they release something next month.

-Guru

 

Another candidate running against DeFazio is Jaynee Germond. From her platform it seems like she would also be anti-FTT. Maybe donating to either campaign would be a good thing: http://www.germond2010.com.

Does anybody here understand Oregon and why this stooge DeFazio keeps getting voted in?