Obama, Merkel and Sarkozy Propose 1% (or More) Tax on All Financial Transactions
G20 Leaders Call for Global Financial Transaction Tax
October 6, 2011Reuters - The European Commission said on Wednesday it would push next month's G20 summit to agree on a global financial transaction tax, but Canada said it may have enough support to block such a move.
Flanked by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a news conference in Brussels, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said it was time to push ahead with the initiative.
"The chancellor and I agreed that the time is right to create new momentum globally and at the G20 summit in Cannes, we will press for a global financial transaction tax," Barroso said.The idea has run into stiff resistance from Canada, the United States, Australia, China and others. Canada has argued that its banks were sound during the recent recession and did not require bailing out.
Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, in a speech to the financial industry in New York on Wednesday, noted that Canada and others had helped keep the Group of 20 (G20) leading economies from imposing a global tax.
"We will continue leading that charge against a transactions tax and I am confident that our allies on this point, who are the emerging economies, will stay with us and join us in opposing what we view as a counterproductive tax," he said.G20 finance ministers will meet next weekend in Paris and G20 leaders will meet November 3-4 in Cannes.
"I am actually confident that we have enough of them in the G20 that we will be successful on that initiative," he added.
The European Union is proposing a 0.1 percent tax in the EU on trading bonds and shares from 2014, and a 0.001 percent tax on derivatives trading.
Britain also opposes such a tax and says it would only support a levy if it was global. Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said on Wednesday his country is against an EU-wide tax.
Merkel and Sarkozy Reveal 'Eurozone Government' Plan
August 17, 2011A "true European economic government" would co-ordinate fiscal policy across the continent, they said, with the aim of giving investors confidence that no one nation could be allowed to build up debt bubbles such as those seen in Greece.
They said they would soon propose a new EU-wide tax on financial transactions, and will also begin work on a new Franco-German corporate tax regime.
But Ms Merkel once again rejected a full fiscal union, scotching plans to issue "eurobonds" on behalf of the entire continent, as recommended last week by Italy.
She faces increasing pressure in Germany not to bail out the indebted nations of the south, which heightened yesterday with news that the country's economic growth had slowed to a virtual standstill.
US markets fell yesterday as the pair spoke but the European markets will give their own verdict today, amid doubts over what short-term difference the proposals will make.
It comes amid flatlining confidence in the markets in the ability of the eurozone nations in the south to stand by their debts. Last week, even France was having to deny rumours that its credit rating would be downgraded because of its own debt burden.
Under the Merkel-Sarkozy plan, the new eurozone "government" will consist of the heads of government of all the eurozone nations meeting two or three times a year, or more frequently at times of crisis. The European Union president, Herman van Rompuy, will chair the body. It will enshrine a more collective approach to governance of the region, giving the collective group far more oversight of individual decisions being made by nations to prevent them bingeing on cheap debt again.
"There has to be a stronger co-ordination of financial and economic policy" to protect the euro, Ms Merkel said. She added: "We will regain the lost confidence. That is why we go into a phase with a new quality of co-operation within the eurozone."Mr Sarkozy said:
"We want to express our absolute will to defend the euro and assume Germany and France's particular responsibilities in Europe and to have on all of these subjects a complete unity of views."He also said that France and Germany would kick off the process of greater integration by beginning work to merge their corporate taxes from 2013 onwards. The pair also said they would propose an EU-wide tax on financial transactions, to be outlined next month.
However, the short-term crisis afflicting debt-burdened nations such as Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain was highlighted by the head of the World Bank yesterday, who called on them to do more to face up to their unsustainable debts. Robert Zoellick said the nations "have not really gotten ahead of the problem". He added:
"I'm trying in a way that I can to start to condition both the political leadership and the general public - you've got to do more than you're doing and you have to move more actively."He also said the decision by the European Central Bank to buy €22 billion (£19bn) of Italian and Spanish bonds last week was a short-term move and did not change the underlying problem of high debt levels.
Economy Debased by Lies, Fraud, and Bogus Statistics (Excerpt)
President Obama's finance team is recommending a one percent (1%) financial transaction fee (TAX). Obama's plan is to sneak it in after the November elections to keep it under the radar. This is a 1% tax on all transactions at any financial institution - banks, credit unions, savings and loans, etc. Any deposit you make, or even a transfer within your account, will have a 1% tax charged. In other words, any money, cash, check or whatever, no matter where it came from, you will pay a 1% fee if you put it in the bank.August 6, 2011
Bob Chapman - ...The Bernanke, econobulls and trapped commodity and stock bulls should be extremely concerned that the ‘beneficial’ effects of QE are now greatly diminished.
1% TAX FOR ALL BANK TRANSACTIONS - OPEN YOUR EYES
This is a House bill. If this doesn't make you contact your congressman, nothing will.
Watch for this AFTER November elections; remember this BEFORE you VOTE in case you think Obama's looking out for your best interest.
This government just cannot think of enough ways to hurt the American people! This Bill must die! FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!
President Obama's finance team is recommending a one percent (1%) transaction fee (TAX). Obama's plan is to sneak it in after the November elections to keep it under the radar.
This is a 1% tax on all transactions at any financial institution - banks, credit unions, savings and loans, etc. Any deposit you make, or even a transfer within your account, will have a 1% tax charged.
- If your paycheck or your social security or whatever is direct deposit, it will get a 1% tax charged for the transaction.
- If your paycheck is $1000, then you will pay Obama $10 just for the privilege of depositing your paycheck in your bank. Even if you hand carry your paycheck or any check into your bank for a deposit, 1% tax will be charged.
- You receive a $5,000 stock dividend from your broker, Obama takes $50 just to allow you to deposit that check in the bank.
- If you take $1,000 cash to deposit at your bank, 1% tax will be charged.
Mind you, this is from the man who promised that, if you make under $250,000 per year, you will not see one penny of new tax. Keep your eyes and ears open, you will be amazed at what you learn about this guy's under-the-table moves to increase the number of ways you are taxed.
Oh, and by the way, you receive a refund from the IRS next year and you have it direct deposited or you walk in to deposit that check, you guessed it. You will pay a 1% charge of that money just for putting it in your bank. Remember, any money, cash, check or whatever, no matter where it came from, you will pay a 1% fee if you put it in the bank.
Some will say, oh well, it's just 1%. Are you kidding me? It's a 1% tax increase across the board. Remember, once the tax is there, they can also raise it at will. And if anyone protests, they will just say, "oh, that's not really a tax, it's a user fee"! Think this is no big deal? Go back and look at the transactions you made from last year's banking statements. Then add the total of all those transactions and deduct 1%.
Still think it's no big deal???
From snopes.com:
Debt Free America Act - Is the U.S. government proposing a 1% tax on debit card usage and/or banking transactions?
It is true. The bill is HR-4646 introduced by US Rep Peter deFazio D-Oregon and US Senator Tom Harkin D-Iowa. Their plan is to sneak it in after the moved beyond proposing studies and submitted the Debt Free
America Act (H.R. 4646) , a bill calling for the implementation of a scheme to pay down the [2010] by Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.). His "Debt Free America Act" (H.R. 4646) would impose a 1 percent "transaction tax" on every financial transaction...
Ever since they fudged the numbers to pass ObamaCare, Democrats have abandoned credible spending plans.
It has been over two years since the Democrat-controlled Senate passed any budget at all.
Health-care costs rose about 8% in 2011 and are projected to rise by 8.5% in 2012. At this rate, taxes would have to rise again and again just to keep up with health-care spending. Is it any wonder that the president and his party are afraid to produce a budget that requires such ruinous levels of taxation?...
What caught our eye in Paul Ryan’s op-ed piece in the WSJ:
1) the admission that US leaders fudge economic and financial data; and
2) healthcare costs increased 8% in 2011.
The BLS has healthcare costs up only 2.9% y/y for June. Plus, the BLS greatly under-weighs healthcare at only 6.627% of CPI, even though it is about 17% of GDP. With realistic inflation accounting of healthcare, CPI would be ~1.17% higher; GDP would be negative. About 2 points of that increase came from gas prices…Inflation also played a part in higher clothing and food costs, and more expensive luxury items due to record prices for gold and silver…
Taxed-out New Yorkers are voting with their feet, with a staggering 1.6 million residents fleeing the state over the last decade. For the second consecutive decade, New York led the nation in the percentage of residents leaving for other states, according to the report by the Empire Center for State Policy.
US debt shot up $238 billion to reach 100 percent of gross domestic project after the government's debt ceiling was lifted, Treasury figures showed Wednesday…The new borrowing took total public debt to $14.58 trillion, over end-2010 GDP of $14.53 trillion, and putting it in a league with highly indebted countries like Italy and Belgium.
Note to those pining for QE 3.0: A main excuse for monetizing US debt was the desire to lower 10-year interest rates to stimulate housing.
1) This didn’t help housing; and
2) 10-year and 30-year interest rates are lower now than during QE 2.0.
Ergo the excuse to lower rates to aid the economy is not valid now.
We have warned that Bernanke was screwing up big time by not hiking rates, even marginally, when stocks and commodities started getting jiggy in 2010. Besides fomenting the inflation that would kill any economic recovery, Bernanke, in an egregious act of myopia, forfeited the interest rate reduction card.
"It seems we've thrown everything at it. We've had QE1 and QE2, Stimulus 1 and Stimulus 2, and the unemployment rate is still 9.2 percent," said John Makin, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "Maybe there are just not many options here at this point," he said…
"Everyone is really looking to the Fed to support the economy, and I think (Bernanke) would realize that you could only do so much with monetary policy," said Mike Knebel at Portland, Oregon-based Ferguson Wellman Capital Management.
The Fed's scope for more easing of monetary policy has been narrowed by a rise in core inflation, which bottomed at 0.9 percent in December but has since hit 1.3 percent.
SHORT NOTES
Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings affirmed their AAA credit ratings for the U.S. while warning that the ratings could be downgraded if lawmakers fail to enact debt reduction measures and the economy weakens. The rating outlook is now negative, Moody’s said in a statement yesterday after President Barack Obama signed into law a plan to lift the nation’s borrowing limit and cut spending. UPDATE: Standard & Poor downgrades US Credit Rating: http://centralny.ynn.com/content/top_stories/552622/standard---poor-downgrades-us-credit-rating/
[...]
Bank of New York said that it will charge 0.13% plus an additional fee if the one-month Treasury yield dips below zero on depositors that have accounts with an average monthly balance of $50 million "per client relationship," according to a letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The bank pays about 0.10% to the FDIC to insure deposit accounts, and if its deposits swell massively, it could face capital charges.
The likely loss of unemployment benefits for 3.71 million Americans in a few months will only add to an economy edging ever closer to recession. Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists say the ending of benefits for the so-called "99ers" those who have exceeded their normal benefit allotment and are on an emergency compensation program through the end of the year will slow the economy even further. The term comes from a previous extension to 99 weeks of eligibility for benefits.
Fiscal Conservatives Barred from Supercommittee. Three Republican Senate sources tell TWS that senators who vote against the deal will be ineligible to serve on the so-called “supercommittee” for deficit reduction that the legislation creates. http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/fiscal-conservatives-barred-supercommittee_581921.html
Congressman Ron Paul warns that the all-powerful new “Super Congress” created by the vote on the debt ceiling will be used to fast-track tax increases while concentrating more power over the nation’s purse strings in the hands of the Washington elite. http://www.infowars.com/ron-paul-sounds-alarm-on-disturbing-super-congress/
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