Bring Back the Speculation Tax!
Wall Street Speculators helped get our country into this mess and now it’s time for them to help get us out. It’s time to ask the big players on Wall Street to pay a “Speculation Tax.” From 1914 to 1966 the U.S. had a tax of 0.2% on all sales and transfers of stock to deter reckless trading and generate revenue. Fortunately for our economy, Oregon’s own Congressman Peter DeFazio is sponsoring a bill to bring that tax back. DeFazio’s “Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Act,” H.R. 4191 calls for a financial speculation tax.
This small tax on each transaction—0.25% on stock trades and 0.02% on other purchases like futures, options, or credit default swaps—is desperately needed to help stabilize financial markets by discouraging superfast trading.
Most investors will be largely unaffected—the first $100,000 of trades each year are exempt, as are pensions, mutual funds, education savings accounts, health savings accounts and individual retirement accounts. The Financial Speculation Tax is supported by prominent financiers such as George Soros, Jon Bogle and Warren Buffett. Read more details here.
Reckless Trading Threatens Our Economy
As documented in the recent report by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Superfast speculative trading has placed middle-class investors in jeopardy.
In the “flash crash” of May 6, one trader executing a large sale with “a complex computer algorithm” sent the Dow plummeting almost 1000 points in a matter of minutes.
Superfast trading has grown to account for 70% of the trades in some markets. We’re talking buying and selling the same stock within minutes, or even seconds, to chase a few cents of gain per share.
A New Source of Revenue
Equally important, this tax would raise at least an estimated $100 billion per year in federal revenue. Of that, 50% will be used to address the deficit and 50% to pay for rebuilding infrastructure.
We’re proud of Representative DeFazio for undertaking this effort, and proud of Representative Blumenauer for co-sponsoring the bill. We want your help in getting the rest of Oregon’s Congressmen to sign on as co-sponsors of the Financial Speculation Tax—DeFazio’s House Bill 4191 and Harkin’s Senate Bill 2927.
Please sign our petition urging Oregon’s delegation to get behind the “Financial Speculation Tax.”
