Robin Hood tax

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The Robin Hood Tax is a proposed financial transaction tax . Similar to the Tobin tax, it is intended to generate money for international development and public budgets in order to combat poverty and climate change .

The campaign to introduce a Robin Hood tax was launched on February 10, 2010 and is supported by a coalition of over 50 charities and organizations, including Comic Relief , Friends of the Earth , Greenpeace , Oxfam and UNICEF . It follows the example of the German “ Tax against Poverty ” campaign, which began in October 2009. The proposed tax is named after the legendary figure Robin Hood , who was stylized as a champion for social justice in several late medieval to early modern English ballad cycles .

The campaign

The organizations involved in the campaign have proposed that a number of financial transactions should be taxed at an average of around 0.05%. The tax would hit banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions in particular .

The amount of revenue depends on a number of different factors, such as the amount and type of tax, and the number of countries participating in it. According to calculations by the organizers, this could generate around "$ 400 billion in revenue".

Half of the money is to be used for the respective national budget and half for international development aid projects.

The campaign was launched in response to the growing demand for a global tax on banks. On February 5, 2010, at the G7 meeting in Canada, the parties involved agreed on the demand for a permanent bank levy to cover general costs for the state in the event of future banking crises. According to the Financial Times , the previously skeptical US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has now spoken out in favor of this idea. The European Commission , Belgium, Brazil, Germany, France, Austria and Venezuela had previously adopted official documents in which they advocate an international financial transaction tax (see Tobin tax # advocates ).

At the G20 summit in June 2010, the G7 countries will solicit support for implementation at the international level. According to the Financial Times report, however, the international community currently favors a tax that is not calculated on financial transactions but on bank assets.

Although the campaign has an international focus, the focus is on Great Britain, where grassroots activists were encouraged to win their MPs and the British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling to join Robin Hood in the course of the budget announcement on March 24, 2010 To use tax.

Difference from other taxes

Tobin tax

Tobin proposed some form of foreign exchange transaction tax . This is a financial transaction tax that (only) taxes certain types of foreign exchange transactions (international transactions between currency areas). The term has been used most often in connection with the financial sector to distinguish it from consumption taxes paid by consumers.

The Robin Hood tax is significantly lower than the Tobin tax, but as a general tax on financial transactions, it is intended to ensure that transactions in all areas subject to speculation (currencies, stocks, derivatives , commodities, real estate, food, etc.) are taxed .

The Tobin tax is primarily aimed at stabilizing the financial market, while income is of secondary importance. The Robin Hood Tax Campaign, on the other hand, aims to generate income that will be used to reorganize national budgets and finance international aid projects.

Stock exchange sales tax

A stock exchange turnover tax , which was previously common and is currently still levied in some countries, focuses on the turnover in securities in a particular financial center, but not necessarily on all types of transactions such as derivatives or commodities.

Support from known people

The campaign features a Richard Curtis film in which well-known British actor Bill Nighy plays a banker who is questioned about the Robin Hood tax. Despite obvious skepticism, in the end the banker has to admit that the tax would indeed be a good idea and would not hit the financial sector too hard.

Based on the original, Maria von Heland created a German-language version with Heike Makatsch and Jan Josef Liefers .

Online campaign

The proposal to introduce a Robin Hood tax is being accompanied by a large online campaign.

literature

Technical article

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Polly Toynbee : Bring on the Robin Hood tax . The Guardian . March 13, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
  2. ↑ Jeffrey Sachs : Robin Hood tax's time has come . The Guardian. March 18, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
  3. ↑ a b Kylie MacLellan and Ron Askew: "Robin Hood" tax campaign launched . Reuters . February 10, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
  4. ↑ List of supporting organizations ( memento of the original from March 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.makefinancework.org
  5. ↑ a b robinhoodtax.org.uk FAQ ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / robinhoodtax.org.uk
  6. ↑ Anna Fifield: G7 warms to idea of banking levy . Financial Times . February 6, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
  7. ↑ Brown retreats on 'Robin Hood tax' . Financial Times. March 10, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
  8. ↑ makefinancework.org FAQ ( Memento of the original from March 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.makefinancework.org
  9. ↑ Robin Hood tax website with the English-language short film