the Occupy Wall Street movement has found it's way into congress in the form of a Robin Hood tax
“It’s our job to put the Wall Street tax at the center of American politics. Those who say it can’t be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” – Former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower
What happened to the Occupy movement? It was the talk of the town, and then poof! Or so it would seem to the general public. Maybe it’s not getting the same press that it once did when it was enduring the cold and bleating of “disorganization” and “socialism” and such. But did you really think it had just evaporated, like a dream? As if all the problems that had brought its birth were magically solved and order was restored to our society?
No. When the greedy corporate interests get their constricting hands around the spirit and try to bleed the essence, as if squeezing derivative earnings from the terminally poor; and when the industry standard becomes a cookie cutter replica of the once hailed renegade… what does the innovator do? Why, go underground, of course.
So maybe the work of the movement has never stopped. Maybe it’s just that our eyes have been averted by some other fanfare. But the show must go on, whether the audience is paying attention or not.
Taking hold in the form of a U.S. bill is the “Inclusive Prosperity Act of 2013” (HR 1579), the so-called Robin Hood tax, which promises to reverse the fleecing that’s occurred over the last several decades here in America.
Bobby Tolbert of Vocal New York says that the tax “is a way to bring power back to the 99 percent.”
The summary of the bill is as follows:
Inclusive Prosperity Act of 2013 – Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) impose an excise tax on the transfer of ownership in certain securities (covered transaction), including any share of stock in a corporation, any partnership or beneficial interest in a partnership or trust, any note, bond, debenture, or other evidence of indebtedness (excluding tax-exempt municipal bonds), or derivative financial instruments; (2) impose a penalty on taxpayers who fail to include a covered transaction on their tax return or information statement; and (3) allow an individual taxpayer whose modified adjusted gross income does not exceed $50,000 ($75,000 for married taxpayers filing joint returns) a tax credit for the amount of tax paid on covered transactions.
The tax would be levied on financial transactions, much like a sales tax. But in this case the consumers wouldn’t be taxed on purchases of food or medicine, they would be taxed for trades made every day on the stock market.
Critics are sure to cry foul, that this targets “job creators” and would stifle the economy. But estimates are that several hundred billion dollars in revenue could be generated by the tax.
Of course, the government revenue crisis is well known and still trumpeted by the media almost daily. George Goehl, executive director of National People’s Action, puts it this way: “We have a revenue crisis, and we know where the money is, it’s on Wall Street,”… “We’re going to ask the politicians are you going to stand with Wall Street or Main Street.”
For more information, see Targeting Wall Street, Robin Hood Tax Comes to Washington by Karen Higgins on Common Dreams.
