Benefits of a Financial Transactions Tax
Working Paper #184
The recent economic turmoil has generated renewed interest in a financial transactions tax (FTT). While such a tax will be vigorously opposed by the financial industry, it offers a very attractive mechanism for raising revenue that is arguably efficiency-enhancing. Calculations based on 2000 trading volumes showed that a set of scaled transactions taxes, imposed on transfers of stock and other financial assets, could raise more than $100 billion a year, even assuming large reductions in trading volume.
This article briefly outlines the case for a financial transactions tax. The first section discusses basic design issues, and the section after that discusses the revenue potential for such a tax. The final section summarizes the potential benefits from financial transactions taxes.
About the Author
Dean Baker
Co-Director
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Publication Information
Type | Working Paper |
Program | Financial Markets Reform |
Posted | 12/01/08 |
Download | 127kb pdf |
# Pages | 7 |