Top economists call for Robin Hood Tax
British newspaper The Guardian has published a letter in support of the Robin Hood Tax signed by 35 top economists.
The letter, published in June, calls on the British Government to introduce an ambitious tax on the banking sector rather than a VAT rise which would hit the poorest hardest.
The economists also stressed that the revenue from such a tax must be used to help reduce the UK’s unprecedented deficit, protect the poorest and fight climate change.
The letter is reproduced below.
Robin Hood tax call
As economists we are concerned that the much-discussed rise in VAT (Report, 18 June) would hit the lowest earners hardest. Deep public sector cuts threaten frontline services and risk dampening demand. Abroad, the poorest countries are facing a major hole in their finances because of a financial crisis they did nothing to cause. Yet the banking sector, since precipitating the largest recession in a generation, remains the most profitable industry in the world. Global profits this year are expected to be well over £400bn.
In the emergency budget on 22 June we call on the government to live up to its progressive rhetoric by announcing an ambitious tax on the financial sector that could raise tens of billions to help reduce the UK’s unprecedented deficit, protect the poorest and fight climate change.
Stephany Griffith-Jones, Financial Markets Director, Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University
Prem Sikka, Professor of Accounting, Centre for Global Accounting, Essex Business School
Dr Jan Toporowski, Department of Economics, SOAS
Ronald L. Martin, Professor of Economic Geography, Cambridge-MIT Institute Research Associate, University of Cambridge
Ian Gough, Professorial Research Fellow, LSE and Emeritus Professorof Social Policy, University of Bath
Richard J. Smith, Professor of Econometric Theory and EconomicStatistics, University of Cambridge
Barbara Harriss-White, Professor of Development Economics, Oxford University
Sheila Dow, Professor Emeritus in Economics, University of Stirling
Geoffrey Hodgson, Research Professor, University of Hertfordshire
Stuart Holland, Visiting Professor, Faculty of Economics, University ofCoimbra
John Weeks, Professor Emeritus, University of London
Dr Alberto Paloni, Head of Economics Department, University of Glasgow
Sushama Murty, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Warwick
Richard Murphy, Director, Tax Research UK
Simon Mohun, School of Business and Management, Queen Mary, University of London
Dennis Leech, Professor of Economics, University of Warwick
Dr Jamie Gough, Senior Lecturer, Sheffield University
Grazia Letto-Gillies, Emeritus Professor of Applied Economics, Director, Centre for International Business Studies, London South Bank University
Tony Thirlwall, Professor of Applied Economics, Keynes College, University of Kent
Dr Pritam Singh, Senior Lecturer of Economics, Oxford Brookes University
Dr Nitasha Kaul, Visiting Fellow, Centre for the Study of Democracy and formerly Lecturer in Economics
Philip J Whyman, Professor of Economics, University of Lancashire
Roberto Veneziani, Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary, University of London
Dr Colin Richardson, Internet Economics Consultant, Imperial College London
Howard Reed, Director, Landman Economics
Judith Metha, Research Co-ordinator, ESRC Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia
Stephen Spratt, Head, Sustainable Markets Group, IIED
Dr Roberto Simonetti, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Open University
Alan Freeman, Association for Heterodox Economics
Christophe Edwards, Senior Fellow, University of East Anglia
Dr Jerome De Henau, Lecturer in Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Open University
John Christensen, Director and Economist, Tax Justice Network International Secretariat, London
Michael Burke, Economic Consultant
Dr Jonathan Aldred, Newton Trust Lecturer
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