German finance minister details his support for robin hood tax
German Finance Minister gave a compelling interview to the Guardian of their support for a financial transactions tax (robin hood tax) as a means to provide slowing down of the high frequency financial markets that are at risk of destroying themselves:
Like France, Germany wants tighter controls on the financial sector, including hedge funds and the shadow banking system. “We need regulation for all innovative products, derivatives and so on and we need regulation for all participants. For every product, there have to be rules to prevent them destroying themselves.”
The most controversial proposal is for a financial transaction tax, first proposed by the US economist James Tobin in the 1970s. Tobin envisaged a small tax on currencies, but Schäuble said he wanted to tax all financial transactions across the European Union, for three reasons.
“The financial sector has to contribute to the costs of the last crisis,” he said. “It’s not only a question of the economy and the budget but of democratic legitimacy.
“Second, it raises money and it does so in a fair way. And third, it would limit a little the room for manoeuvre of financial markets. We must prevent the markets from destroying themselves.”
