1/4% Tax on all stock trades pushed in NY Times today

[jonnysharp]

Thought I would take the liberty to do the numbers of this tax and it's likely effect on the average American.

Ive attached a spreadsheet showing the cumulative returns with and without the tax, it's not much to begin with, however the wealth erosion it causes over the years is dramatic to say the least, for e.g....the average American is 34 years old and has 44 years of life expectancy left at which stage their average pension would be 32% lower with this transaction tax and by the time their wealth made it to their grandchildren, more than 60% of their legacy would have been taxed away by the socialist-state-sponsored-welfare-state we call a capitalist democracy.

Please spread these facts and let it be know to those in power this tax further enriches the Wall st-Washington cartel at the expense of the common man.

Whilst the likelihood of this tax being passed remains low, we shouldn't take it for granted, because things quickly change in politics and we could all have the wool pulled over our eyes, keep fighting against it. I'm actually frightened at the prospect of government taxes going forward, the government has big bills and plans on spending more and more and they are going to be knocking on our doors and putting their hands in our pockets to help finance their socialist policies.

Fuck them.

 

[ksharmon]

The key dynamic domestically that could feed this legislation going forward

http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/

Still, Shierholz digs deeper. "People define middle class as people who have a certain set of aspirations... owning a decent house in a safe neighborhood, having good public schools for their kids, being able to take vacations, being able to save for college for the kids, having good wrap-around health insurance, putting away money for retirement... These set of things are what the middle class thinks about." Unlike the poor, she says, for whom these set of aspirations could be considered unrealistic; or the rich, who may find them easily attainable.

And, according to Shierholz, the people who can realistically focus on these aspirations are losing ground.
'War On the Middle Class?'

"For a long time now, the growth and prosperity of the country has really gone almost exclusively to the well-off," Shierholz says. "There's been this big disconnection between what's going on at the top, and what's going on for regular folks."

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<i>This is part of the climate of which we have to be aware</i>.

 

[ksharmon]

Quote from jksn922:

I really think all the lobbying being done by these liberal groups is to pressure the administration to change their stance on this tax via the G-20. I think they know they face very long odds getting any trans. tax passed through Congress, but their odds are better in possibly getting something accomplished in the next G-20 summit. That's what we need to be worried about, as the U.S., Russia, and Canada are the only significant countries left that continue to oppose the tax. I'm much more concerned about this becoming a reality internationally than domestically.

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<i>No question shorter term the key dynamic is the international one. Especially France and the current UK leadership want to use this to "reign in" America globally</i>

 

[ksharmon]

Quote from ksharmon:

The key dynamic domestically that could feed this legislation going forward

http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/

And speaking of that climate, did everybody see this--

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- “I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit,” said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol. The banker had told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank.

I called Goldman Sachs spokesman Lucas van Praag to ask whether it’s true that Goldman partners feel they need handguns to protect themselves from the angry proletariat. He didn’t call me back. The New York Police Department has told me that “as a preliminary matter” it believes some of the bankers I inquired about do have pistol permits. The NYPD also said it will be a while before it can name names.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20670001&sid=ahD2WoDAL9h0

 

[ZeroSigma]

Quote from jksn922: I urge everyone to shit in an envelope and mail it to: Economic Policy Institute [..]

I did Actually, they have been very helpful. I've used their sales tax analogy to come up with rather a decent defense of a 100 times lower stock transaction tax rate (0.000025). If you can place such an article in an actual print media, PM me please right now (you will be the author of course. Do so also if have any publishing 'contacts' whatsoever in the US, because all my publishers are sadly based in a small European country (but I did achieve some local 'name recognition' in my hayday

My fair tax formula is based on the existing Main Street's 5% sales tax rate and a really simple comparison of representative markup rates, so no economic theory is really involved - very readable. So far I've sent it to WSJ and Dr Calabria.

 

[loufah]

Quote from Xspurt:

It is common sense that tax is that portion due to the nation for the good of all when a profit is made. However when tax is applied equally to losses as to profits, common sense has turned to folly.

The world is full of excise taxes and sales taxes.

You cannot tax a loss for there is nothing to tax. Such a tax would be an anti capitalist up front fine to destroy a business.

Yes, they're trying to destroy te business of speculation.

When such a tax is intended to penalize financial impropriety in banks, but is so badly targeted that it penalizes every person in the country who wisely tries to invest for and protect their future, folly has turned to madness.

It will only penalize speculators. Yes, that includes you and me. It includes GS employees who are getting paid an average of $700K this year. It does really affect mom and pop long-term investors who are already used to paying 3% up front to their mutual fund broker. .25% is peanuts.

 

[loufah]

Quote from benwm:

The US proposal goes a lot further than the UK 0.5% 'stamp duty' because the US tax woud cover forex, futures, options, i.e. all financial transactions.

Unless the bill has changed, it covers only section 31 and CFTC instruments, not forex.

 

[FightTheFuture]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/is_it_time_for_financial_institutions_to_give_back_20091201/?ln



Now the awesome tax is going to raise $650 billion.

 

[bpcnabe]

CNN Money article on the tax - says could raise 120 - 240 billion annually:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/02/news/economy/financial_transaction_tax/index.htm

Sadly, no comment section.

 

[rsikit]

I had emailed the CFTC about its jurisdiction. And since the hr1068 bill was written to cover pretty much all instruments covered by the sec laws of 33 and 34 and anything under the cftc jurisdiction, it means Forex is convered. We know Forex is not on an exchange but now the cftc and nfa have the ability to regulate it i.e. margin, regulatory action against firms etc.. It is under the jurisdiction of the nfa and cftc here in the US. So forex would be taxed. I am not sure what it states in this new bill, but we can assume it will cover it. If we look back at Defazios history he has tried to tax forex/currency before he tried to do all financial transactions.