Tax on Trades Should Be Part of Rescue Plan, Some Democrats Say By Laura Litvan Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) – A group of House Democrats is proposing to make Wall Street companies and investors pay more of the cost of any financial rescue plan through a new tax. In a letter sent late yesterday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 16 Democrats asked her to ensure any rescue legislation include a transaction tax'' on all U.S. stock trades and on other types of trades, such as credit default swaps, options and futures. They are proposing the tax would be at a rate of one quarter of one percent on all trades. The same Wall Street speculators and investors who are principally responsible for having caused this avoidable financial crisis and profited from it must now be required to pay for it, not U.S. taxpayers,’’ according to the letter, which was signed by Representative Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, and Representative Pete Stark, a California Democrat. In a news conference today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would support some mechanism that could return more funds to Treasury coffers if the $700 billion to be spent to acquire troubled investments isn’t later recouped. She didn’t endorse any specific proposal and suggested it is likely to be explored later. You might make a judgment down the road that there is a shortfall and it should be covered,'' Pelosi said. President George W. Bush in a televised address last night urged swift action on the $700 billion rescue plan to help avert a long and painful’’ recession. The $700 billion proposal would allow the Treasury to buy troubled assets to restore financial stability, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said yesterday.
Should tax the homeowners entering into the mortgage (that they couldnt pay) as they helped cause this too.
Oh my god… That would be a total disaster. Would that be a quarter of one percent of what? The notional size? So if I trade a ED contract, I pay the gov’t $2500 or $5000 a round turn? Uh, I think liquidity in ED contracts just went to 0.
I actually watched CSPAN while jogging last night… who the h#ll are these people??? I especially enjoyed watching Maxine Waters debate the financial crisis. Bernanke / Paulson’s reaction to her concern that minority and women financial professionals MUST be included in the process and that she has a list available was priceless. Silence… then she repeated herself and Paulson just said “I agree” as his voice broke.
Yep, the members of Congress epitomize the sad state of financial illiteracy in this country.
25 basis points sounds soooooo small to most people, bet there won’t be the uproar that there should be. When I’m elected president, EVERY kid will be required to take 200% more math and economics classes in school
The Regulatory Dialectic is kicking in even faster than I thought it would. Any guesses on what the next massive piece of banking re-regulation will be called. Maybe the Frank, Reid, Pelosi, Banking Reform Act of 2009. Say goodbye to the days of credit growth and 3.5% nominal GDP growth.
But taxing trades wouldnt it hurt taxpayers?? At the end investors=taxpayers. Citing the CFA, tax reduces the willingness to work. This will definetly NOT help the economy. If they pass the rescue plane, they will probably pass a legislation to raise taxes in some ways.
Look, money needs to be raised somehow. And it isn’t just raising income tax to 40%.
IronMan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Look, money needs to be raised somehow. And it > isn’t just raising income tax to 40%. How bout a little less spending ehhh?
^^ ditto
equity_analyst Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > IronMan Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Look, money needs to be raised somehow. And it > > isn’t just raising income tax to 40%. > > > How bout a little less spending ehhh? how’s that gonna pass congress??
If only there were some useless money pit we were just throwing a few billion a week into, that we could just stop throwing money at? If only, eh?
Uhhh…ever heard of the Omnibus Budget Bill, or, the term “pork?”
subtlety is lost on this forum.
should read: “all forums”
mostly just on you, who couldn’t notice there obviously is a pit we’re throwing a few bil a week into that could easily be reclaimed. I’ll give you a hint, the pit is filled with sand.
I knew what you were refering to, but please don’t go there, you don’t have the figures to back up what you are implying in the “sublteties” of your post.
NakedPuts Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > mostly just on you, who couldn’t notice there > obviously is a pit we’re throwing a few bil a week > into that could easily be reclaimed. I’ll give > you a hint, the pit is filled with sand. Not going to happen for a while.
NakedPuts…go ahead, keep doing your googling, it won’t matter.