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

Here's a little more info on the "Swap Transaction Fee." Again keep in mind I'm not sure if this is actually in the final bill or not. But it does sound very similar to the SEC fee imposed on stocks:

"(f) Publication.-The Commission shall publish in the Federal Register notices of the fee rates applicable under this section for each fiscal year not later than 30 days after the date on which a regular appropriation to the Commission for such fiscal year is enacted, together with any estimates or projections on which such fees are based.

"(2) General Revenues Prohibited.-No fees collected pursuant to subsections (b), (c), and (d) shall be deposited and credited as general revenue of the Treasury.


"(1) Annual Adjustment.-For each fiscal year, the Commission shall by order set the transaction fee applicable under subsections (b), (c), and (d) for such fiscal year at a rate that is reasonably likely to produce aggregate fee collections under this section that are equal to the costs to the Government for such fiscal year of the portion of its appropriation to the Commission that is related to the supervision and regulation of swaps markets and swaps participants, including enforcement activities, administration, legal services, and international regulatory activities.

-Guru
 
That's just a taste of the recommendations presented to President Obama's bipartisan fiscal commission this week during a marathon public listening session focused on how to put the federal budget on a sustainable track and reduce the growth rate in U.S. debt. (Read "CBO chief: Budget outlook 'daunting' ")

In all, 75 speakers representing think tanks, nonpartisan grassroots organizations, trade associations and advocacy groups from the right and left spoke during the seven-hour meeting. A handful of concerned citizens contributed their two trillion cents, too.

...

A majority said they could support at least a 5% cut in health and non-defense spending and up to a 15% reduction in defense spending. They said they could back a carbon tax, a securities transaction tax and higher taxes on corporations as well as individuals making more than $1 million.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/01/news/economy/fiscal_commission_public_forum/
 
Quote from seasideheights:

That's just a taste of the recommendations presented to President Obama's bipartisan fiscal commission this week during a marathon public listening session focused on how to put the federal budget on a sustainable track and reduce the growth rate in U.S. debt. (Read "CBO chief: Budget outlook 'daunting' ")

In all, 75 speakers representing think tanks, nonpartisan grassroots organizations, trade associations and advocacy groups from the right and left spoke during the seven-hour meeting. A handful of concerned citizens contributed their two trillion cents, too.

...

A majority said they could support at least a 5% cut in health and non-defense spending and up to a 15% reduction in defense spending. They said they could back a carbon tax, a securities transaction tax and higher taxes on corporations as well as individuals making more than $1 million

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/01/news/economy/fiscal_commission_public_forum/
More...





This is really no surprise, as we all knew a FTT would be one of the recommendations to the deficit panel. We certainly know that Andy Stern is a major advocate of a FTT, so the unions, activists, etc.... will be putting pressure on Stern to deliver for them. However, there isn't one single Republican on the deficit panel that would vote for a FTT, and 4 GOP votes would be required for a FTT idea to be adopted and passed onto Congress. So obviously we will be hearing much more about the FTT in the coming months. I'm not really concerned about a FTT passing, but we should definitely stay focused as to what's going on, so we can keep up the fight.
 
Germany, France to press Brussels on transaction tax

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6610QM20100702

BERLIN, July 2 (Reuters) - Germany and France will call on the European Commission to submit proposals for a European financial market transaction tax, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday.

"In the next few days I will together with my French colleague call upon the European Commission to submit proposals on a measure for a financial transaction tax," Schaeuble told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

If such a tax cannot be agreed on an EU-wide level, consideration will have to be given to whether it could be possible for the euro zone, Schaeuble said.
 
EU Exploring Possibility Of Financial Transaction Tax

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100702-703364.html

BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--The European Commission said Friday it is exploring the possibility of taxing financial transactions in Europe, despite the slim chances of a global agreement.

The commission is also looking at the possibility of a tax on the profits and assets of financial companies, it said.

"All options remain open," the spokeswoman for tax issues Emma Traynor said.

The commission expects to report on the best options available in the autumn, she said.

*------------------------------------*

The self-same European Commission were unenthuisiastic about the FTT in this document http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance...tive_financing_global_level_sec2010_409en.pdf back in April- it seems unlikely they'll form a different view this time around, just because Germany and France have asked for it..
 
The trend is not our friend on FTT.

The Franco-German alliance is pushing a FTT for the EU, or at least the eurozone. Perhaps as a new Euro Tax to solidify the EU economic union, which is under financial-attack from short-sellers in their view. They want a fiscal-tax back-bone and view FTT as a means to slow-down and dissuade short-sellers, speculators and hot money. Plus, they need to calm-down angry workers hurting over austerity measures, in showing that government is forcing bankers, hedge funds and traders to pay more and share the pain too. It's not a good time to be a banker in Europe, look at the EU banker-compensation restrictions this week.

Back here in the US, I am concerned about the growing alarm, anger and beat-down coming against high-frequency-traders (HFT). The media blames HFT for the flash crash and crowding out retail ordinary Joe public investors, writing that 70% of trading volume is computerized-trading, much coming from super-computer-count-the-cards casino-capitalism. How can government slow down and change HFT? You can't say no computers, how do you check that and that is not right anyway. You can try to fix front-running first-looks, but that is not easy to do. Some will argue that one way to stop HFT is by raising transaction costs, either with exchange-fees, regulatory-fees and/or transaction-type taxes. I hope someone doesn't suggest a FTT to fix HFT.

US and EU Fin Reg is bad in my view and it's overreach. I hope it's blocked and redone in the US by the Senate after July 4th, see my blogs on that. I fear that Main Street and progressive writers may say that Wall Street was let off the hook with allowances for alternative investments and prop trading, keeping some derivatives, not having executive-compensation rules, Glass-Steagall not being reinstated, keeping business in holding companies and banks not being broken up, and no new major taxes passed yet. The President's $90 billion bank tax is still coming soon, and the $19 billion bank tax was stripped out of Fin Reg by Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.). Carried-interest tax increases failed - so far - on investment managers, so that anger may linger too. I don't expect many tax hike bills before the midterm elections, as they are not going to help either party.

Here's the perfect storm on FTT. If FTT passes in the eurozone, and Dems don't get trashed in the midterms, and HFT is still roaring-high as a problem, and the economy is still struggling, and the debt-commission recommends a FTT and/or VAT, the public may choose FTT. That's a lot of ands, but that's what a perfect-storm is. Possible, but still not yet likely.

This thread will live on for a few years, so glad we all like each other as we continue to fight against FTT.

Happy July 4th.
 
Quote from Explorer:

Germany, France to press Brussels on transaction tax

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6610QM20100702

BERLIN, July 2 (Reuters) - Germany and France will call on the European Commission to submit proposals for a European financial market transaction tax, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday.

"In the next few days I will together with my French colleague call upon the European Commission to submit proposals on a measure for a financial transaction tax," Schaeuble told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

If such a tax cannot be agreed on an EU-wide level, consideration will have to be given to whether it could be possible for the euro zone, Schaeuble said.
More...

They posted an update with the reaction from the UK Treasury:

The U.K. has been cautious in its response to the proposed tax.

"The IMF (International Monetary Fund) report doesn't offer an endorsement of a financial transaction tax and clearly there would need to be further discussions around whether the financial transaction tax model offers a stable and efficient mechanism at this stage," a spokesman for the U.K. Treasury said. "In the meantime we see the bank levy model as offering an effective way forward."

Hopefully thats their kind way of saying no?

-Guru
 
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