I recently chaired a meeting in Leeds to discuss the setting up of a regional campaign for the so-called Tobin Tax – named after the Nobel Prize winning economist James Tobin who first put forward the idea of introducing a tax on financial transactions which could help double the amount of aid for millions of the poorest people of the world. It is a staggering fact that the global money trade is worth 50 times the value of all other markets such as food, housing and transport…equivalent to a pile of £50 notes stretching from here to the moon every year.. yet it is not subject to any specific tax.
The potential benefits of the Tobin Tax are enormous. It can raise huge amounts to help finance sustainable developments in the poorest parts of the world and at the same time is a useful means of regulating financial markets and combating the kind of currency upheavals which in themselves lead to so much poverty.
I believe that there is now a real groundswell of support for the Tobin Tax campaign. France has already passed legislation and the Chancellor Gordon Brown says he is ‘open minded’ on the issues.
“That is why it’s important that we establish a campaign group in this region to join the Tobin Tax Network and I certainly intend to seek support from fellow MEPs to raise this as an issue for debate across Europe.”
Other speakers at the meeting included Sheila Banks, President of Leeds TUC, and David Hillman from the Tobin Tax Network.
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