A House bill still being drafted aims to raise $150 billion each year to pay for new jobs. Under a bill being drafted by Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio (Ore.) and Ed Perlmutter (Colo.), the sale and purchase of financial instruments such as stocks, options, derivatives and futures would face a 0.25 percent tax. The bill, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill, is titled the “Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Act of 2009.” Half of the $150 billion in tax revenue would go toward reducing the deficit, while the other half would be deposited in a “Job Creation Reserve” to support new jobs. The job fund would be available to offset the additional costs of the 2009 highway bill and other legislation that creates jobs.
LOL@the title. It’s more like…“Let main street pay for us to get more power”.
I’m pretty sure this is just an election play. These guys probably realizes that there is no chance that this measure will pass. However, when they go up for reelection, which I think is not too long from now, they can talk about how they “fought for main street”. Average Joe voters love this sort of thing.
Yeah this one’s got a real chance
So you mean I’ll have to pay 0.0175 when I trade through Scottrade? That's outrageous! I sure hope they decide to eat it and not pass that nearly .02 down to me…I don’t think I would trade anymore if that happened. And that’s probably going to make the mutual fund expenses skyrocket right? Give me a break.
chrisclwtr Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So you mean I’ll have to pay 0.0175 when I trade \> through Scottrade? That's outrageous! I sure \> hope they decide to eat it and not pass that \> nearly .02 down to me…I don’t think I would > trade anymore if that happened. And that’s > probably going to make the mutual fund expenses > skyrocket right? Give me a break. Brazil just tried this type of thing to devalue their currency, it worked as it disincentivized foreign investors from investing in brazil, but also punished the stock market. Why not add $.02 cents to everything we do, it is only 2 pennies, big deal. Two pennies to every email we send. 2 pennies for every text message, 2 pennies for every fart (might be likely if emissions bill is passed). It all adds up. It will make fund expenses go up. It will decrease liquidity and it will negatively impact equity markets. Why does everyone seem to think the govt can spend money better than individuals.
Rydex Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Why not add $.02 cents to everything we do, it is > only 2 pennies, big deal. Two pennies to every > email we send. 2 pennies for every text message, > 2 pennies for every fart (might be likely if > emissions bill is passed). > > It all adds up. It will make fund expenses go up. > It will decrease liquidity and it will negatively > impact equity markets. > > Why does everyone seem to think the govt can spend > money better than individuals. I’m focusing on this one tax, not the other possibilities (although, the fart tax may be worth looking into). How much do you really think this would impact fund expenses? Most funds trade at a pretty good discount due to economies of scale, and trading fees aren’t a huge portion of fund expenses. Do you think investors would even notice if their expense ratio went up a few percentage points (which is probably pushing it)? I think it’s a little blown out of proportion.
I think we should just be fundamentally opposed to anything that mucks up the financial system unnecessarily, especially things like this that are driven by populist anger more than anything else.
I dont think it is blown out of proportion in any manner. The initial tax, yes will likely be small, but once you let the vampire in the house it will likely suck the blood out of everything in site. It will be so easy to say, lets raise that tax one investment transactions again, only by a penny this time. But the increasing of this tax will continue, it always does. The tax will never be removed, only grown over time. That is the scary thing.
We could also have a 4 cent sin tax. 4 cents for choking the chicken 4 cents for taking a dump 4 cents for every dollar you spend at a strip club 4 cents for every cigarette smoked. That and the leglization and taxation of the green stuff would really pump. Even though I don’t partake in the consumption I see the benefits of taxation/leglization.
It’s 50bps tax on every trade in the UK and more in some countries. I’m no expert in this area, but similar taxes in other countries do not seem to have distorted the market as much as one might initially think.
The UK and other countries are also not as prosperous as the US.