Tax Not Insurance

The Robin Hood Tax campaign is capturing the imagination of tens of thousands of people in the UK. Importantly, the main political parties have also started engaging - each making their own unique sounds.

While this is very welcome and a great tribute to all those involved in the campaign, a close watch needs to be maintained to ensure that bad policy is not made on the back of a good campaign. For example the Tories have suggested recently that they would apply a unilateral bank levy (in the absence of a global agreement) but would fashion it as a type of insurance scheme.

The idea of using any money raised from such a levy as insurance fails to address the grossly under regulated and risk obsessed financial sector. Indeed the very existence of such insurance could encourage even more dangerous trading within the banking sector rather than throw a little sand into the wheels of the market - no mere peccadillo!

Furthermore, the proposed levy will also not raise the much needed funds that could be used to support the poorest people both in the UK (surely a vote generator) and around the world. Labour are slightly more in tune to this need and the Liberal Democrats are openly supportive but campaigners have no opportunity to rest on their laurels.

The robin hood tax should not be seen by governments as a ceiling - it is a sound proposal thats time has come and one that is the antithesis of insipid legislation.