Stamp Out Poverty Campaign : Tobin Tax Update - Winter 2004
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Tobin Tax “technically feasible” say world leaders The Presidents of France, Brazil, Spain and Chile with UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, have said that: “a tax on foreign exchange transactions is technically feasible on a global level”. Their report on financing development, ‘Action Against Hunger and Poverty’, was released at the UN in New York on 20 September and has the support of 110 countries. Presidents Chirac, Lula and Zapatero then made a formal declaration on hunger and poverty, saying “the greatest scandal is not that hunger exists, but that it persists even when we have the means to eliminate it. It is time to take action. Hunger cannot wait”. President Chirac went on to call for “technically realistic and economically rational” development funding mechanisms, and noted that senior IMF and World Bank officials have accepted the feasibility of currency transaction taxes (CTTs) to finance development. For further information, including the ‘Action Against Hunger and Poverty’ report (referred to as the Quadripartite Report), go to: www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/actu/article.gb.asp?ART=44576 Following so close on the heels of the Belgian CTT legislation passed this July, such an unprecedented high-level backing of the CTT surely heralds a new phase of the campaign. It is now no longer a question of whether the trade in currencies ought to be taxed to raise money for international development, but when! Money trade worth $1.9 trillion per day – up 57% in 3 years The market in currencies has risen from $1.2 trillion per day in 2001 to $1.9 trillion per day in 2004, a staggering increase of 57%. Every three years the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) produces a report surveying activity in the foreign exchange and derivatives markets. The newly released survey is available at: www.bis.org/publ/rpfx04.pdf. This significant increase in the volume of currency trading has major implications for estimates of CTT revenues. As we work to complete our new report (see below), we will reflect this important development in our income projections. European ‘Tobin’ campaign leaps forward at Social Forum 20,000 people from nearly 70 countries converged on London in October for this year’s European Social Forum (ESF). Tobin Tax groups from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the UK (as well as from outside Europe: Costa Rica, India and Japan) met for an unprecedented series of plenary, seminar and workshop sessions. The outcome was a number of key agreements including the setting up of a European office in Brussels and the development of detailed plans to secure a CTT on the Euro and other European currencies. Spain set to follow Belgium as CTT momentum continues President Zapatero is looking to emulate Belgium’s recent historic progress with the introduction of Spain’s own currency transaction tax. Watch this space for news of unfolding developments. UK NEWS
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