The problem is that oil is a limited resource. The sands of the Arabs are running dry, and soon they will be back to herding camels. Of course traders will be blamed when oil goes back up to $ 200, but the government will be better off support technology that reduces our dependence on oil and therefore provides jobs to Americans.
The world equity markets have been so manipulated in the last year, that a trader tax sounds great now. The only ones buying are central banks. Instead of resting central bank reserves in mortgages (which has been the model for the last 20 years) central banks are now investing reserves in equities, commodities, and currencies. Look at crude oil, gold, and the euro. The ECB may be complaining out loud, but under their breath they are flipping the US off.
Thanks for putting this link up. Everyone has to follow it and sign. Then it asks if you want to send to your house rep and senator too. It won't become law ever, but we may as well voice our concerns now. Because there are so many cagey liberal jackasses out there like TG and RiceRocket that want to speak out about more taxes just to be annoying and take the other side of any argument.
there is a transaction tax in place as we mull over this new Tobin tax. Let me explain. Trader 1 has a regular account and has a good year. Lets say he makes $1,000,000. He has to pay income tax on this full amount. To keep it easy lets say he pays a total of 40% tax. Trader 2 has a regular account and he lost the $1,000,000 to trader 1. He can only take a $3,000 loss on his tax forms and carry the rest forward. The IRS gets a windfall every year in this manner. They take no risk and get a good bit of the money that is pushed into the markets by the public, who are putting up the risk funds to try to have a better financial life. I think that a new tax will cause the net present value of the future tax collections from trading to fall.
It's true, you guys need to pay for the bailouts. Most of you churn and burners are losing your nest eggs anyway. You might as well contribute to society a portion of your gambling. It wouldn't effect my trading bottom line because I don't need to flip a trade every 5 minutes to make money. I follow the macro trends, which have much more money in the moves, and cost me a couple trades a month in commissions. The trader tax would be arbitrary. I prefer a trader tax, rather than another tax on my business. Either way there will be tax increases, and this one sounds better than all the other options out there.
You do realize that this trader tax won't be the only tax you will be hit with. As volume declines, the bid ask spreads will widen. This will mean you will not get as good and efficient prices as you did before. Anybody who has a 401k account will see their fees go up and it will make it so more difficult to retire. By the way, why in the world should I as a trader have to pay for the bail out? I have absolutely zilch to do with Wall Street debacle. I didn't trade with the derivatives etc. In addition, I am already contributing something to society from my trading. It is called short term capital gains tax. But since you are so concerned about people contributing to society; do you think Mcdonald's and CocaCola should pay additional taxes for the unhealthy food they produce? What about the cigarette industry? If not, why are you only asking traders to pay extra? This is a terrible tax with bad consequences. And do you really think "Wall Street" will eat this tax? Don't you think there is tiny possibility that they will pass this along to their customers?
That's two posts bashing the OP's intention to drum up support for something he feels strongly about. You my friend are a scumbag. Why don't you start a thread to get support amongst traders that are for a tax that would kill all liquidity and volatility in the market. A tax that if you bought a 3 month t-bill today for 5 basis pt yield it would cost you 50bp to get in and out. Its wrong to push your agenda on here. Go and choke on a dim sum and die.
"I'm am for tax A because it doesn't affect me, but I am against tax B because it does affect me..." That's not a very intelligent argument, my friend, I'd call you ignorant but that would just be rude so I'll keep that to myself I'm not American but I like to trade the US markets because of tight spreads, deep liquidity and low execution costs. A trader tax would significantly reduce those benefits, and my money will find its way to another market, perhaps even one in a time zone more convenient for me. If lots of foreign traders withdraw their money from the US markets because they are no longer competitive with other country's markets, and more Americans start trading international markets it might even end up affecting an esteemed buy and hold "investor" such as yourself. I seriously doubt this tax will pass though, for it to work all countries have implement it along with the US, or too much money would be sucked out of the US economy. If it does get passed, enter leg 2 of the W, the shorting opportunity of a life time!