The Green Party has welcomed the renewed EU initiative to introduce a Financial Transaction Tax, although concerned the measure is currently seen only as part of the Euro rescue package.
Green Party Policy Coordinator, Stuart Jeffery said:
“No other rules, monitoring, bonus taxes or Government-appointed directors so effectively tackle the roots of the ‘socially useless’ speculative trading that brought the world financial system close to collapse in 2008, and again now. The Tobin tax is simply too good to be used as an emergency fundraiser for the bail-out.
"Sadly the coalition seems to have little appetite for curbing the excessive risk-taking of the bankers or for helping to protect savers. A financial transaction tax would help do these things and also raise important income to address the increasing problems that we face. The stakes are too high to allow the banks to crash the economy again.
“The Green Party has endorsed the idea of the Tobin tax for many years, supporting the view that the proceeds could contribute to overseas development aid. The urgent need for an FTT is not as a bail-out, or for revenue-raising, but to curtail the bloated casino “investment” banking sector.”
While world-wide application of FTT is desirable, the Green Party believes it could be introduced at a low rate throughout Europe to set an example to the USA and other major financial centres. It can also represent a useful measure to support the rebalancing of the UK economy now widely agreed as necessary.