Capital will be made more expensive if this tax ever comes about, hitting the ability of poorer countries to raise investment funds. Fortunately the tax is not likely to come about, since it would require the agreement of every tax jurisdiction to make it work, and the record of international consent, as illustrated by the stalled World Trade talks, is minimal. Without that consent, traders would simply move to where it was not levied.
The “Robin Hood Tax” might look superficially attractive, but it would do profound damage to the world economy and, far from hitting “the rich”, it would be the world’s poor who suffered most. This could be one reason why Bank of England Governor Mervyn King described it as “bottom of the list” of options.
If campaigners want to spend charitable funds on these campaigns, they would be more effective in calling not for higher taxes, but for the end of the protectionist tariffs that prevent poorer countries from selling their goods.
Read it all.
Madsen Pirie–Robin Hood Tax: why 350 economists are utterly wrong
Capital will be made more expensive if this tax ever comes about, hitting the ability of poorer countries to raise investment funds. Fortunately the tax is not likely to come about, since it would require the agreement of every tax jurisdiction to make it work, and the record of international consent, as illustrated by the stalled World Trade talks, is minimal. Without that consent, traders would simply move to where it was not levied.
The “Robin Hood Tax” might look superficially attractive, but it would do profound damage to the world economy and, far from hitting “the rich”, it would be the world’s poor who suffered most. This could be one reason why Bank of England Governor Mervyn King described it as “bottom of the list” of options.
If campaigners want to spend charitable funds on these campaigns, they would be more effective in calling not for higher taxes, but for the end of the protectionist tariffs that prevent poorer countries from selling their goods.
Read it all.