Financial trade tax gains traction with 2020 Democrats – By Naomi Jagoda (The Hill) / Feb 25 2020
Democratic presidential candidates across the ideological spectrum are calling for taxes on financial trades, breathing new life into an idea that for many years was promoted primarily in progressive circles.
“It’s moving more into the mainstream,” said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Financial transaction taxes (FTTs) aren’t a new idea. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who won the Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses on Saturday, floated such a tax during his 2016 campaign. And progressive lawmakers have offered legislation to create such a tax for years.
But the 2020 election is putting a new spotlight on FTTs, particularly because it’s not just progressive candidates who are calling for them on the campaign trail.
Most notably, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has proposed an FTT as part of his financial reform plan.
Bloomberg — a billionaire founder of a financial information company who was previously a Republican and an independent — is calling for an 0.1 percent tax on transactions of stocks, bonds and derivatives, which he thinks should be phased in gradually.
“Some of the world’s leading financial centers, such as the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, have found that taxing financial transactions can raise significant revenue, both to defray the costs of overseeing markets and to address other social needs,” Bloomberg’s campaign said in a document released last week. “Such taxes can also help address inequality.”
Continue to article: https://thehill.com/policy/finance/484433-financial-trade-tax-gains-traction-with-2020-democrats
