Thanks to Adam Tickell for setting things straight on the Tobin tax, before
forum members raced into a discussion based on faulty premises!
But seriously...despite Paul Treanor's way of saying things, the underlying
point which comes out of his posting is that the reason why taxes, levies
etc are imposed is important. I'm sure different groups support the Tobin
tax for all sorts of different reasons. As a member of the Green Party
(there, I've given myself away now!), I would like to see such a tax (and,
incidently a whole range of other measures to control international flows
of money, goods and services)for many of the reasons Adam suggested.
There is a very serious question of 'unilaterism' versus 'multilateralism'
in imposing such a tax- can one country (or a small group of countries)
hope to introduce such a tax? Surely it would drive out transnational
corporate investment etc.
In some ways that is part of the point. In the long term, decreasing TNC
involvement in the economy is seen as immensely desirable by Greens with
the long term goal of creating stable sustainable local economies, which
have control over money flows (local currencies etc or even more radical
solutions).
This is certainly not the reason why the UN and other international
agencies want a Tobin tax...
Someone get their teeth into this one, please!
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