Quote from psytrade:
Is the tax only on profitable trades or all trades?
Either way you'll see people trying tax arbitrage strategies - putting the losing end of the trade in the US, while profiting offshore.
Mind you they already do that with most trades with the bigger companies...
Quote from makloda:
The Swedes tried this to finance the bailouts from their real estate/banking crisis and it was a complete dud. Transactions moved to London and elsewhere and revenues from the tax fell short of expectations. The tax was therefore scrapped a year or two after introduction. It was a complete failure.
The Swedes are on a mission across Europe trying to talk the Sarkozys and Merkels out of the insanity of this idea.
Quote from rew:
plenty of congressmen played a big role in bringing it about by passing laws requiring banks to give mortgages to people who couldn't afford them and by forcing Fannie Mae to lower its standards for the mortgages it buys.