Just do not forget to read the fine print. Most probably market making and intraday trading and also big dealer banks will be exempt. You still will pay. Nothing will change.
Why do you say trading is a zero sum game? The economy benefits overall from the transfer of risk from risk averse to risk takers whenever a trade takes place. The farmer needs the speculator! Should politicians tax other transactions involving risk transfer, such as life insurance, home insurance, placing deposits in a bank, etc? There is a cumulative effect on the economy for every such tax. This is perhaps a debate for another thread (and not one I want to get into now) but it is not realistic to believe that transactions will not move to Asia and non-EU nations however skilfully the EU bureaucrats draft their proposals. It is inevitable that it will fail to reach the goals of bureaucrats, certainly if the history of Sweden is anything to go by (and I believe it is). The EU FTT is not comparable to the UK Stamp Duty Reserve Tax because in the UK market makers are exempt so the massively reduced volumes do not occur (only the little guy pays - a very regressive tax indeed). I agree with the other poster that market makers may get a last minute exemption but the little guy will still get screwed...that is very plausible...but the public will still be told it is a "tax on bankers". Anyway, that's my two cents worth.
I don't disagree with risk transfer for genuine reasons, however the farmers who I have spoken too, and its not a huge number, told me they only hedge a certain % of the crop and do so at a few key times during the year. How often do you change bank, switch life insurance etc etc. The markets have evolved beyond what they were designed for. I agree that in most instance Tax's do stifle growth, however I would rather see what opportunity grows out of the ash of an FTT tax then sit and watch the endless algo filth switching in and out of cash vs futures all day long trying to have no risk and just trying to nick a tick.
guys, you should have a better read on the current proposals ... even if they pass daytraders in futures are going to be excempted on the Tobin tax ... so all this talking is a lot to do abnout nothing ...
yes, there are ... I don't have any English links ... but it was in the Flemish financial newspaper De Tijd ...
Discussion on this tax completely misses important facts. Politicians wants to put restriction on free flow of capital and turn portion of it into budget for their spending. They want to double tax because income from capital and capital gains are already taxed. They forgot about risk involved in investing and that risk taking was the engine of accelerated growth of Western economies for the past 200 years. I guess they do not understand that you should not tax cow's feed but instead tax the milk otherwise you starve the cow and there is no cow and no milk. People do not understand basic economics and think that this tax is not affecting them and only big banks and bad traders will be hurt. On the contrary professional speculators and big banks will be just fine. Each and every person even those that have no direct exposure to the markets will be affected by this tax.
Well send the article link anyway, latest article about it on that site I found is from the 23rd before the leak was seen. I'd be shocked if day traders were exempt, after all that is one of the primary aims of the tax to stop high frequency speculation.
Well the French FTT exempts day trades, so its not so shocking that the EU 11 version might as well, given France is one of the main proponents. The FTT will gain nothing by taxing day trades (you cant make money taxing something that will longer happen) so loses nothing my exempting them. That said it is too early to guess what will be caught/exempt from the final implemtation. They may decide to exempt registered market makers only. Speculative day traders may get screwed.