Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Just one teeny tiny tax

A financial transactions tax of just one tenth of one percent (.001) would produce enough revenue from the NYSE alone to cover ONE THIRD of the deficit reduction dollars Tea Party Republicans are demanding. This minuscule increase in the cost of a trade would produce $20 Billion dollars in new tax revenue annually.

Whenever the subject comes up it is severely attacked as unfair, unworkable, job-killing, etc. Yet no one says anything against raising the SALES tax that you and I pay on items everyday. If you check the record you will see that those Tea Party folks have often supported INCREASES in the sales tax (usually surreptitiously by eliminating exemptions). So why is a teeny tiny tax on the things bought by those who destroyed the economy such a bad thing when a HUGE tax added to the cost of stuff I need to live so evil and unfair? It sure would slow down micro-trading wouldn't it? Do you think that might be one of the reasons this will never see the floor of the House?