Since the Treasury Department is still very much on the wrong side of the OECD anti-tax competition campaign, don’t get too excited about the headline. But it is still nice to see that Tim Geithner and the rest of the crowd in the Obama Administration are not so hopelessly statist that they are willing to go along with a global tax on financial transactions. The Wall Street Journal opines:
In the department of bad ideas that won’t go away, Exhibit A is a global tax on financial transactions. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown mooted the tax last weekend before the G-20 finance ministers in St. Andrews, Scotland, where he was promptly rebuffed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. …it’s easy to see why high-tax countries such as France and Germany relish the idea. Tax competition is a bête noire for the Western European countries whose governments eat up close to half of their economies. The U.K. is back in that club after the post-financial-panic recession lopped 6% off its GDP. Scrambling for revenue—and unwilling to hamstring London markets alone—Mr. Brown is suddenly promoting global tax coordination. …Like all tax-harmonization schemes, the Tobin levy is designed to raise taxes above a level that is hard to sustain in a competitive world. This is why its backers have always insisted on a global imposition of the tax. Kudos to Secretary Geithner for offering Mr. Brown a reality check.
When CATO allowed a man such as Armey as a guest speaker wearing a 10 gallon hat making jokes only he can laugh and understands and he’s supposed to be a good guy representing whom or what in Oct with Prince Michael L. Lets not forget all the negative hype in Switzerland this month regarding taxes about the Obama’s Administration, doing this blaming them for that, but lets forget who created this mess. We admit Obama needs to gain some balls like Cheney but, how can you correct an error when there’s so many secrets no one can get a handle on. Unless, you’re the previous administration that everyone neglect to comment on high we’re in this ball of the US define tax “American Style” or how Texans says, “We grow them big and dumb in Texas.”
Oops!!!!!!! That’s how Armey came across at CATO last month. Who cares about his nine children and how many animals he has on the farm. Wasn’t Armey part of the last administration? One of the, “Good Ole Boys”
[...] 3. The notion of “taxation measures on financial transactions” is bureaucrat-speak for the Tobin Tax, which is a great scam for politicians since they would get to tax every transaction we make. If you think it is a good idea to put sand in the gears of the economy, sign up for this scheme. This idea is so bad that even the Obama Administration is opposed to it. [...]
[...] I’ve always said such plans are unrealistic because anything that collects a big amount of revenue is bound to have negative effects, particularly since much of what occurs in financial markets can easily escape to other jurisdictions. Heck, these taxes are so misguided that even the Obama Administration is opposed to them. [...]
[...] the way, this is an issue where both the United States and Canada have basically been on the right side, though the Obama Administration blows hot and [...]
[...] the way, this is an issue where both the United States and Canada have basically been on the right side, though the Obama administration blows hot and [...]
[...] the way, this is an issue where both the United States and Canada have basically been on the right side, though the Obama administration blows hot and [...]