PM shies away from ‘Robin Hood’ tax
Moves are a blow to anti-poverty groups
11 March 2010
Pat Sweet
Gordon Brown has changed his mind about proposals for a global tax on day-to-day financial transactions which would see money directed from richer nations to developing countries.
The prime minister no longer supports the idea of the so-called ‘Robin Hood’ tax originally proposed by economist James Tobin, according to the Financial Times.
In a speech to the City, Brown said that any revenues arising from levies on banks ‘should be for national governments to use’, but denied that they should go to provide funds for poorer countries.
The news is a blow to anti-poverty organisations which have been running a campaign in support of the new tax, but brings the UK government’s views into line with those of other countries.
The International Monetary Fund is due to set out its thinking on the issue next month, but IMF, managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has already described a Tobin tax as ‘a very old idea that is not really possible today’.
The US has consistently opposed the concept, preferring the idea of individual bank levies to recognise the support taxpayers have offered since the current financial crisis began.
Brown has now thrown his weight behind this approach, saying that a ‘levy on banks seems likely to be the most practical approach’, provided any levy did not undermine the reforms of financial regulation or lead to double-taxation of international banks.
