02 Sep Here Comes the “Global” Currency Tax
The movement for a global currency tax gains momentum.
PARIS, Sept 1 (Reuters) – A group of 60 nations, including France, Britain and Japan, will propose at the U.N. this month that a tax be introduced on international currency transactions to raise funds for development aid, ministers said on Wednesday.
Speaking after a meeting in Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the group had agreed a common position for the United Nations Millenium Objectives summit on Sept. 21.
Ministers estimated the tax could raise as much as $35 billion a year for development aid.
“For every 1,000 euros the tax we are suggesting will bring 5 cents,” Kouchner told reporters. “It’s not a lot, but enough to get things going.”
I know this idea has been kicked around for a long time and it may or may not be a good idea. To me, it has never been clear to me how exactly this would be implemented. Would nations create a depositary to collect and distribute the funds or would it be given to existing U.N. agencies? Would such an international agency have the authority to collect the funds directly from banks? If not, how would you avoid the problem the U.N. has now in collecting member dues? As a U.S. matter, a treaty or international agreement purporting to impose a tax directly would raise lots of interesting constitutional problems.
Yeah, no.
They’re just doing this to deflect criticism over the European Commission’s findings that the EU should pay developing countries 20 billion EUR annually to offset the cost of climate change.
The odds of the US agreeing to essentially pick up the tab for all this is pretty much zero.
I agree that the U.S. won’t go along with this – though individual U.S. banks with significant international transactions may participate.
But this has nothing to do with the Commission or climate change. The idea of a tax on currency speculation goes back to the early 70s (when the environmentalist movement was just getting organized) as a means of stabilizing a non-gold-based global economy.
Is there somewhere I can bet on this happening?