Robin Hood Tax ‘could feed millions’: ABC
Some of Australia’s best and brightest have joined the global campaign for the Robin Hood Tax, writes ABC economics correspondent Stephen Long.
“Advocates say the tax would reduce damaging financial speculation and create a giant pool of money that could be used to feed the hungry and combat global warming,” Long writes.
“It is a modern version on the old theme of taking from the rich to give to the poor, a minute tax on all financial transactions other than routine banking by the public.”
Not all Australians, however, are positive about the idea, Long notes. Dr Sam Wylie, a senior fellow at the Melbourne Business School, says the idea has flaws when it comes to hedging and could in fact damage the financial markets.
Ross Buckley, University of NSW professor and expert on banking and finance law and policy, disagrees. “That’s simply not true,” he said. “I mean, nobody hedges for two seconds, right? Nobody hedges for nanoseconds.”
The benefits of the tax would be almost unheard of, Buckley added: “Even if a quarter of this tax went to global poverty, that would be as much as the total aid budget of all rich countries today.”
To read the full report at the ABC Online, click here.
