Lefties have been sullying the good name of Robin Hood for years by promoting the "steal from the rich, give to the poor" lines, when in actuality Robin Hood stole from the government and gave to the poor, but naming a tax after him is beyond the pale!
The citizens of Nottingham were suffering under excessive taxation by Prince John (to pay for King Richard's ruinous crusades and policies, but that's another topic), enforced by ye olde villain, the Sheriff of Nottingham.
So, naming a tax after Robin Hood, the great anti-tax champion of English myth, is Orwellian in its reversal of meaning.
The so-called Robin Hood tax is a 0.03% tax on financial transactions. I find it ominous that the Robin Hood Tax booster site's "How this Works" page is extremely vague regarding how this would be implemented and what financial transactions it would apply to. Also that the page uses the language of the 1% versus the 99% is a hint that this tax is more about class warfare than sound fiscal policy.
The page says "That money could provide funding for jobs to kickstart the economy and get America back on its feet." Hmm, really? Because it is the private sector that creates jobs, exactly how is it efficient to take money away from the job creators and filter it through the government in order to create jobs? Are there people out there who still believe that the government is the engine of job creation? The idea was ludicrous on its face even before it had been so thoroughly debunked in practice by the current financial crisis and the failed stimulus bill.
No, what that money will really be used for is to fund government spending, at the cost of jobs. It's simple fact, you don't take money away from wealth generators and expect to create jobs.
The page goes on "So it's time for justice for ordinary families and businesses. For
American families faced with a choice between buying food or paying the
heating bill." Again, really? How dumb do they think I am? I'm an ordinary American. Well, maybe not so ordinary, because I'm in the declining percentage that pays more in taxes than I receive in government services. I also own stocks, in my 401k, as millions of other "ordinary families" do. This tax will steal from my 401k and put no money in my pocket. It won't help pay the heating bill or the food bill (because I'm not on government subsidized HEAP utility payments or Food Stamps -- I pay for my own damn heat and food, thank you).
Nowhere does the page explain exactly how this bill will give "justice" to ordinary families or help them pay their heating or food bills without increasing their dependency on the state. Increased dependency is not justice in any sense of the word!
A tax on financial transactions would simply be deferred throughout the rest of the economy. If commodity trading is 0.03% more expensive for the traders, then commodity prices will be approximately 0.03% more expensive to consumers in order to account for the added expense! That means oil, gas, basic foodstuffs -- it will come right back and hit "ordinary families" in the pocket book.
I work for a subsidiary of Boeing. If Boeing stock is 0.03% more expensive to trade, thus financially impacting Boeing, that hurts me, the Boeing employee. It hurts people who invest in Boeing and people who might be hired by Boeing. It hurts other companies that do business with Boeing. All it does is give more power to the government, which for starters has to take a cut of whatever money the tax generates to pay the tax collectors and regulators necessary to implement the law. Then the money gets spent by government on things that don't generate wealth or create jobs -- the "social safety net" that's looking every day less like a "safety net" and more like a net trap.
People don't need handouts, they need jobs, but every time you raise taxes you take money away from the people who create jobs and give it to the people who give handouts. Government handouts don't raise people out of poverty, they just make them more settled and comfortable in their poverty. Jobs raise people out of poverty. Companies, big and small create jobs, not government. Wall Street funds the companies that create jobs. Stealing from Wall Street is stealing from the wealth and prosperity of the nation.
Robin Hood would have had no part of this.
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