Small change for banks, big change for us
It’s time to make the banks pay their fair share.
It’s time for the Robin Hood Tax.
The banks caused the financial crisis, and we’ve paid the price with devastating cuts. Now they’re back to vast profits and bumper bonuses. Taxing them more is long overdue.
Join our Million Strong movement for the Robin Hood Tax
A Smart Solution: The Robin Hood Tax
The Robin Hood Tax – otherwise known as the financial transactions tax (FTT) – is a small charge on the purchase of financial assets like shares, bonds and derivatives. It’s the banks that make the vast majority of these purchases, not members of the public.
In the UK, we already have a tax on purchases of shares, which raises £3.5bn every year. Stamp Out Poverty’s plan would take this further. Our Robin Hood Tax would cover other financial assets, and close loopholes that help the banks avoid the tax – raising almost £5bn more every year.
Part of the money raised by a UK Robin Hood Tax could also be used to fight global poverty and climate change – countries like France already use half of the money from their FTT – €750m every year – for this purpose.
By making casino trading a bit more expensive for banks, the Robin Hood Tax would also help discourage the kind of risky gambling that contributed to the last financial crisis.
Mainstream not radical
The Robin Hood Tax is supported by world leaders and business people including Angela Merkel, Jeremy Corbyn, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bill Gates, George Soros and Warren Buffett. More than 1,000 economists have backed the idea, including Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs, former head of the UK Financial Services Authority Lord Turner, and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz.
Our Million Strong campaign stretches across 100 organisations in the UK and many more across 15 countries. Join celebrity supporters including Emma Thompson, Andrew Lincoln and Bill Nighy – see the excellent film that Bill made for us here.
The Labour Party have pledged to introduce the Robin Hood Tax. Other European countries are working on their own versions of the tax, and the US Democrats have pledged to do the same.
It’s time everyone else followed suit.
