Tell the President and Congress to Get Behind a Wall Street Speculation Tax

At a time of real and threatened cuts to programs on which low- and middle-income Americans depend, a Wall Street speculation tax could generate significant revenue from a grossly undertaxed sector of the economy. The financial industry accounts for more than 30% of total corporate profits, yet pays only about 18% of corporate taxes and contributes less than 2% of total tax revenues.

A Wall Street speculation tax (also known as a financial transaction tax) is a way to raise hundreds of billions of dollars; get Wall Street to shoulder more of the responsibility for America's economic recovery; curb dangerous high-frequency trading; and move the financial markets away from short-term bets and back toward job creation and badly needed private and public investment. A small tax on sales of stocks, bonds, and complex financial instruments could do all of that, at no noticeable cost to ordinary investors or families.

Financial industry lobbyists have mobilized their enormous wealth and political influence against the idea. They tell scary stories about harm to retirees and ordinary investors and damage to U.S. competitiveness and economic growth. But similar taxes already exist in more than thirty countries, including the financial centers of Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. In Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and seven other countries have decided to move forward with a coordinated tax. The U.S. itself had such a tax for much of the 20th century, with none of the dire consequences cited by its Wall Street critics.

We urge you to stand up to Wall Street and put this long-neglected idea on the table now.