The Banker

Campaign video by Richard Curtis and Bill Nighy, about the Robin Hood Tax, a tiny tax on bank transactions that could raise hundreds of billions for public services and to tackle poverty and climate change at home and around the world. Add your own voice to the campaign at http://www.robinhoodtax.org.uk

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  Nonprofits & Activism

[thelastbumblebee]

As much as I support the Robin Hood tax - but I'm far too distracted trying to work if that's Anton Lesser interviewing Bill Nighy ... is it?

[RobinHoodTax]

It is indeed the one and only Anton Lesser - good ears!

[Mike Sheen]

How can a 0.05% tax on financial transactions raise potentially over £200 billion?

For that to be possible you'd have to assume that the value of financial transactions is over £400 trillion per year.

World GDP is only $70 trillion.

[RobinHoodTax]

So, as you may or may not know, the Robin Hood Tax is a tax on different types of assets - shares, stock, derivatives and so on... Each of these will be taxed between 0.5% and 0.005% depending on the type of asset. Generally, we average this to about 0.5% to keep it simple - but lots of research by hugely smart experts has gone into finding out what would and would not work. Hope that makes sense...

[archer1949]

I'd love to see them try to introduce this here in the US! The Bankers and their lapdogs in Congress would be screaming that a the Red Revolution would be nigh! And the slackjawed hick voters would believe every word!

[Dave Hampton]

Strikes me it could be helpful if a lot more than 710,000 people saw this?

How could we help that happen...

[lawrencestoke]

The poor are weak.

[Zeke Bourdain]

Thank God this idiot tax is dying its richly deserved death

[hulubuluable]

According to a briefing paper from the Adam Smith institute in 2011: "FX turnover in the City of London reached over $1.8 trillion every day in 2010, accounting for 36.7% of the global trade."

[Rowan Cravey]

THANKYOU! It's everywhere across the Western World! Especially here in Australia (shudder). This sense of entitlement or just 'good ol' souls helpin' out' is either not good for business or negligible for everyone else. I have no idea what this is all about, but as you said, socialism is never a good idea long term.

Other than that, Bill Nighy is still super cool.

[ITILII]

notional value of derivatives traded, in 2010 was over 1.2 Trillion dollars which would equate to around 800 billion pounds (give or take) which is more than twice what you state is necessary to sustain the 0.05 tax....so double it to 0.10, banking criminals can afford to give up a pittance...but then again they have no pity...or morals it seems

[Darth nataS]

I won't stammer. You are going to remove 200 billion from the economy that banks could be lending to business people, for investments that would create manufacturing and other real jobs? Then give it to the government to waste it on environmental studies, grants, paperwork, regulations to hurt business, foreign giveaways, and thousands of other wasteful garbage that the market doesn't want? Anyone who is for this needs to learn a bit about how business works, and how socialism doesn't.

[Lavender Blue]

What a brilliant idea!

[alnakisbandi]

I support RobinHood Tax. Like if you say so