Robin Hood Tax Campaign Launched

A new campaign has been launched in the UK which has galvanised the support of a coalition of charities, trade unions, aid agencies and hundreds of economists.

Calling for a tax of 0.05% to be applied on international banking transactions, the Robin Hood tax could raise up to £250 billion per year. Ideally half the proceeds would remain in the country to address domestic problems and the other half would be spent on tackling global poverty and climate change.

Financial transaction taxes already exist in many countries but none are as bold as the proposed Robin Hood tax. However, some world leaders including Angela Merkel and Gordon Brown have expressed support for the proposed tax alongside philanthropists such as George Soros.

The organisations involved claim that the minute tax would not damage the sterling market or impact negatively on the business of traders and so should prove relatively palatable. The tax is also not designed to hit the pockets of the public - though ensuring that banks and financial institutions do not pass on the cost may be hard to regulate. In addition, this new innovative source of funding should not be seen as a mechanism to relieve rich countries of any existing or future aid promises which they are committed to.

The only negative that immediately jumps to mind when this new campaign is considered is that the tax does not address the problems of the unregulated capitalist market that caused the recent global economic crisis but rather simply purports to benefit from it on the premise of helping those trapped in poverty. But, baby steps first...