I believe the actual language exempts trades of less than $100,000 from the tax. The authors seem unaware that exchanges pay the Prime Brokers as Supplemental Liquidity Providers, and that the Prime Brokers are exempt from most fees, and from settlement delivery deadlines. I participated in a Q&A on this with several members. They are open to raising the amount where the tax takes affect. They intend to shape the tax to target large players, and make high frequency trading uneconomical. They also see it as a way to track and follow the market. They also talked about a .01%tax, so the amount of the tax is not set in stone. The paper trail seems to be the real objective. They seem to have the support of maybe 14 countries or so in the G20 give or take.
Yep. This tax will drive the spread back to the date of fractions. The smallest spread you will see will probably be 1/8th, or 12 or 13 cents. Back to the stone age we go. <font color = "red"><b> Change you can believe in.</font color></b>
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our Founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer." Change you can believe in. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Jll5baCAaQU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Jll5baCAaQU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Actually there will be a way around this tax. Obviously this will be a pay before you play tax and not something you will have to pay at the end of the year. When NFA said they were changing margin requirements at the end of this month for forex, my broker offered all clients the opportunity to move their accounts to the UK and they would get to keep the same margin they are used to. The same will happen for stocks. People will just start opening accounts in other parts of the world to trade stocks in other countries. Probably india.
Singapore and Dubai will not institute a transaction tax. If the major players did (US & Britain) business would gravitate to these jurisdictions. And I know that they (Lee Kuan Yew, et al) would LOVE to pick up the business NYC and Chicago would lose if this ever went into effect and move Singapore from back of the G20 field to a more prominent role. (I have relatives from and in Singapore and I hear all the time how they want to be a bigger player.) I happen to be one of those in the "it won't happen" camp because there is too much AGAINST this becoming enacted, contrary to the growing chorus from the left coast. Main of which is that that the national politicians in these financial centers are Democratic. Both Schumer (D-NY) and Menendez (D-NJ) have come out against this tax as they know it would destroy the tax base in their constituent areas. And I am sure the Chicago politicians feel the same. (Can you also imagine the damage to the commercial real estate market if this ever came to pass? It would give Houston in the '80s a run for their money!) I really think tho that they are angling for something else, like maybe higher cap gains tax on stocks etc, maybe indexing it to income rates.
When this story first broke a few months back I said you will see this come to fruition. I said the democrats will find a way to tax ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they possibly can and this will gain momentum. And I still say This is going to happen for several reasons. The politicians want more tax payer dollars coming into their hands. They are spending like crazy and will tax like hell to pay for it all. Democrats will bleed taxpayers dry any chance they get. Wallstreet is in ill favor with the general public. There is no opposition to this, no organized political group is organized to oppose this tax. It will happen