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The Robin Hood Tax: Everything You Need to Know

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The Robin Hood Tax: Everything You Need to Know THE ROBIN HOOD TAX: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW robinhoodtax.org.uk THE BIG IDEA CONTENTS The idea behind the Robin Hood Tax is simple: the financial sector has caused the greatest 01 What is the Robin Hood Tax? recession in a generation, affecting millions of Financial Transaction Taxes people here in the UK and around the world. The Why does the Robin Hood Tax campaign favour financial sector must now pay its fair share of Financial Transaction Taxes? the cost of sorting out the mess it created. The The Bank Levy Robin Hood Tax campaign is calling on the UK The Fat Tax government to raise an additional £20 billion a year from the banking industry – much needed 02 Why do we need the Robin Hood Tax? revenue that could fight poverty in the UK and How would the money be spent? overseas. It could help tackle climate change. At home Help protect schools and hospitals. Help stop Abroad massive cuts across the public sector. Help build Climate change new lives around the world…so what are we Why should some of this money be used waiting for? for fighting poverty and climate change in developing countries? The tax is just. The financial sector can afford it. And academic heavyweights have shown that 03 the systems are in place to collect it. Why should the financial sector be taxed? How did our financial sector come to be so WHAT’S THIS GUIDE FOR? bloated? This handy guide to the Robin Hood Tax is all you need to make you into a star Merry (Wo)Man. 04 It will tell you everything you need to know and What has the UK government done so far? answer any tricky questions you have about the campaign. 05 Has there been any progress globally? 06 Doesn’t the financial sector make an important contribution to our economy? 07 Can the UK’s banks afford to pay £20 billion extra? 08 What about when people say it needs global agreement to work? 09 Won’t companies just avoid the tax or move their businesses offshore? 10 Won’t banks just pass the costs onto us? 11 Can Financial Transaction Taxes reduce speculation and risky financial activity? •Theyaresimpleandinexpensivetoimplementanddifficultto avoid.Asdescribedlater,whethertransactionsarecarriedout oncentralisedexchangesorspreadthroughouttheworld,the vastmajorityofthemaresettledthroughahandfulofelectronic 01 clearinghousesmakingsuchataxreallyhardtoavoid.4 •ThereisalargeamountofpoliticalmomentumaroundFTTs, WHAT IS THE ROBIN HOOD especiallyinEurope.France,Germany,Spain,Finland, TAX? AustriaandBelgiumhaveallcomeoutinsupportofanFTT. ButweareopentoavarietyofdifferentproposedRobin HoodTaxes,andseeleviesonprofits,remunerationsand balancesheetsaspotentiallycomplementarywitheachother (andwithimprovedregulation).Therearetwoothertaxes whichyoumightalsohearabout: THE BANK LEVY Thisproposal,commonlyreferredtoastheBankLevyis alsoknownastheInsuranceLevy,orbytheIMFasthe FinancialStabilityContribution(FSC).Itreferstoaflatrate taxonfinancialinstitutionsaboveacertainsize.TheUK RobinHoodTaxeswouldbepaidbythefinancialsector.They governmentannouncedthatitwouldimplementaBankLevy targetthosewhocanaffordtopaymore.Andthemoney intheEmergencyBudgetinJune2010,andothercountries wouldbespentonthosewhoneeditmost–thepoorathome havemadesimilarcommitments(includingAustria,France, andabroad.IntheUKadditionaltaxationofthefinancial Germany,Hungary,PortugalandSweden). sectormustmeettwoessentialcriteriatobeworthyofthe nameRobinHood: UnfortunatelytheseBankLevieswillraiseonlysmallsums ofmoney,andcritically,noneofthemoneywillbeearmarked •AnyRobinHoodTaxshouldraisebillionsofpoundsof forhelpingthosemostaffectedbythecrisis.IntheUKit revenueeveryyear.Wecallforafurther£20billionfromthe willraisejust£2.5billionayearfromthefinancialsector. financialsectorintheUK. Andshockingly,muchofthiswillbeoffsetbyareductionin •RevenuegeneratedbyaRobinHoodTaxmustbeusedto CorporationTaxfrom28%to24%. tacklepovertyintheUKandabroadandtofighttheworst Theseamountsaretinyincomparisontotheimplicitsubsidy effectsofclimatechange. thebanksreceivefromGovernment.Byrefusingtoletthe WebelievethataFinancialTransactionTaxoffersthemost bigbanksgobust,theUKandothercountriesensurethat potential–atinytaxof0.05%(onaverage)ontransactions thebankscanborrowmoneyonfarmoregenerousterms suchasbondsandderivativescouldraisegloballyasmuch thanotherbusinesses.IntheUK,theBankofEnglandhave as£250billionayear. estimatedthatthissubsidyisworthapproximately£100bna year.5EventheFinancialTimes6isarguingforfurthertaxes FINANCIAL TRANSACTION TAXES onthebanks. Financial TransactionTaxes(FTTs)areleviedontransactions offinancialassets,includingstocks,bonds,foreignexchange THE FAT TAX andderivatives.WithanFTT,eachtimeafinancialproductis TheFATtax(FinancialActivitiesTax)isachargeonfinancial traded,atinypercentage(between0.5%and0.005%)ofthe sectorprofitsandremuneration.Itwasfirstproposedbythe valueofthetradeiscollectedintax. IMFinitsinfluentialJune2010report,AFairandSubstantial ContributionbytheFinancialSector.TheIMFproposed WHY DOES THE ROBIN HOOD TAX CAMPAIGN suchataxbecauseitwouldcorrectwhatitcalledan“under- FAVOUR FINANCIAL TRANSACTION TAXES? taxedandhenceperhaps‘toobig’”financialsector.Itis alsosupportedbytheEuropeanCommissionandtheUK TheRobinHoodTaxcampaignbelievesFTTsarethemost government. appropriatewaytotaxthefinancialsector.Herearefour reasonswhy: AccordingtotheIMF,aFATtaxof10%(halftherateofVAT) couldraiseabout£9bnintheUK. •Theyhavethegreatestpotentialtoraiserevenue. Implementedinternationally,FinancialTransactionTaxes Sowhat’stherationaleforanorganisationliketheIMF couldyieldasmuchas£250billionannually,whileintheUK suggestinganewtaxonthebanks? wecouldraisetensofbillionsofpoundsayear.1 Somewhatincredibly,whilstVATgoesupforordinary •FTTsarecommonplaceandhavebeenimplementedeither people,thefinancialsectorremainsVATexempt.Thatmeans permanentlyortemporarilyinatleast40countriesover everytimeyoubuyacar,youpayVAT.Everytimeatrader manydecades.2IntheUK,wehaveanFTTonsomeshare sellsaderivativeorbond,theypaynothing.Thismeansa transactionsof0.5%,whichraisesaround£4billionayear.3 staggeringlossintaxrevenuethatinsteadhelpstoboost FTTsonabroaderrangeoffinancialproductscouldraise bankprofitsandpay. significantlymore. anestimated30to50thousandextrainfantsdiedin2009.9 The WorldBankestimatesthat,globally,anadditional120million peoplehavebeenforcedtoliveonlessthanUS$2adayandan additional89milliononlessthanUS$1.25aday.10 02 TheMillenniumDevelopmentGoalsarenowinjeopardy asgovernmentsstruggletoliveuptotheirforeignaid WHY DO WE NEED THE commitments.TonyDolphin,senioreconomistattheInstitute forPublicPolicyResearch,explains:‘Althoughtheworstof ROBIN HOOD TAX? thecrisisappearstobeinthepast,itseffectonemergingand developingeconomieswillcontinuewellintothefuture.Lower HOW WOULD THE MONEY employmentratesandalackofsocialsafetynetsmean BE SPENT? thatpovertyishigherthanitwouldotherwisehavebeen andachievingtheMillenniumDevelopmentGoalofhalving povertyby2015willbethatmuchharder.’11 Thiscrisiswascausedbythefinancialsectoranditneedsto paytofixtheproblemsithelpedcreate. CLIMATE CHANGE Atragicparallelbetweenclimatechangeandthefinancial Thefinancialcrisisandrecessionhaveleftamassiveholein crisisisthatthoseleastresponsiblesufferthemost.While theUK’spublicfinances,hittingfrontlineservicesandjobs. richcountriesandpowerfulcorporations,manywithtiesto Thelargestrecessionofagenerationhashadadisastrous thefinancialsector,haveproducedmostofthegreenhouse impactnotjustintheUK,butonthepublicfinancesofmany gasesthatarecausingclimatechange,poorercountriesare developingcountriesaswell.Hundredsofthousandsof expectedtobear75-80%ofthecosts.12Disruptedseasonal supportersoftheRobinHoodTaxcampaignbelievethat patternsleadtofailedcrops,andincreasedfloods,droughts, banks,hedgefundsandtherestofthefinancialsectorshould cyclonesandstormsleadtoseverehunger,poverty, beaskedtopaytheirfairsharetoclearupthemessthey disease,andlosthomes.AccordingtoTheSternReview helpedcreate.WearecallingontheUKfinancialsectortopay oftheEconomicsofClimateChange,therecouldbeupto anadditional£20billionperyearintaxation.Globally,weare 200millionenvironmentalrefugeesby2050.13Insurance callingforRobinHoodTaxestoraiseasmuchas£250billion giantMunichReestimatesthatlossesfromclimate-related peryear.Ourproposalisthatthemoneybesplitasfollows: catastropheshaveincreased10%since1980,andaveraged •50%tobeusedtoprotectthepoorestandmostvulnerableat $100billionperannumoverthelastdecade.14Thecostsfall home; disproportionatelyondevelopingcountries,whichareless equippedtodealwithcatastrophes,andinwhichagriculture •25%tobeusedtohelpthoseindevelopingcountrieshit –particularlysubsistenceagriculture–constitutesasignificant hardestbythefinancialcrisis; proportionofGDP. •25%towardsmuchneededresourcestofightclimatechange ARobinHoodTaxwouldprovideanewsourceoffinance athomeandabroad. tohelpthoseexperiencingclimatechangedealwithits Here’swhyweneedtheRobinHoodTax: devastatingeffects. AT HOME WHY SHOULD SOME OF THIS MONEY BE USED FOR FIGHTING POVERTY AND CLIMATE CHANGE ThebankingcrisishashitpeopleintheUKhard.Theyarelosing IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES? theirjobs,crucialservicesandmostalarminglytheirhomes. Youthunemploymentissky-rocketing.AccordingtoSavethe ResearchforOxfamhasshownthatthe56poorestcountries Children,1.7millionchildrenintheUKliveinseverepoverty, arefacinga$65billiondollarholeintheirfinancesbecauseof whichmeanslivingwithoutbasicnecessitiessuchasclothing thefinancialcrisiscausedbythebanks.Thismeanscutsin andfood.8Thisyear,theUKgovernmenthasannouncedplans educationhealthandsupportforfarmers.Indesperatelypoor tocut£81billionfromthenationalbudgetthroughto2015. countries,thatmeanspeoplelosingtheirlives.Soataxon
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