"Robin Hood tax" (aka "Tobin tax")

[doodab]

I am a novice at this so explain to me.

OK the UK imposes some sort of tax on bankers and a fee on transactions.
Would UK businesses be at a trading disadvantage?
What is to stop the big players moving their entire trading base to a country that does not do this?
How much money could the UK lose?
How many jobs could go?

It would depend. An eu business wanting to hedge currency risk or buy commodity futures would pay slightly more than they do now. The tax premium would be the same whether they buy their contract from barclays in london or bank X in hong kong.

The fact is the eu needs pension funds, investment funds etc, so it's easy to say that if you market these products in the eu then their transactions are taxable. Financial institutions aren't going to say 'oh **** it then, we'll only sell pensions in the us' because there will still be money in it even with the tax.

You have to admit it's odd that everyday items are subject to VAT yet an options contract isn't, and there is no reason why such contracts can't be taxed when 'imported' in the same way as consumer goods are.

[doodab]

When you say "we" do you mean itinerant, ne-er-do-well, IT jobbers with no assets? Are you mates with the idiots at St.Pauls?
Smacks of envy to me.

That's because you're a small minded cretin who can't imagine that a society designed for maximising human well being (and I don't mean state handouts or communism before you go down that route) might be a good thing. You would rather attribute it to envy than a desire for a better world because you're incapable of seeing beyond your own bank statement.

Sad sad little man.

[Jog On]

It won't happen anyway, the UK will only ever agree to it if it is imposed worldwide so the yanks, japs, chinese will have to be on board with it as well.

Osbourne has even admitted that he doesn't think it will work on a worldwide basis either:

Revealed: Osborne

But get ready to see lots of finger pointing and Rosbeef bashing when it comes to a vote/veto where we will be accused of selfishness and being unsupportive of the world economy. sarkozy will take centre stage, just like Chirac did when they came after us for the 'British cheque' a few years ago...

[sasguru]

That's because you're a small minded cretin who can't imagine that a society designed for maximising human well being (and I don't mean state handouts or communism before you go down that route) might be a good thing. You would rather attribute it to envy than a desire for a better world because you're incapable of seeing beyond your own bank statement.

Sad sad little man.

Wrong again.
HTH

[Jog On]

I think it would be good to discourage short-termism in the markets (ie gambling) and bias the system to favour proper long-term investing.

Why?

Is this an ATW sockie?

[sasguru]

Why?

Is this an ATW sockie?

All the usual suspects coming out with half-digested and half-understood tidbits they've garnered from the press.
For all their weasel words I don't see the proponents of punitive measures against the City (generally Europhiles) say much about the enforced depression conditions prevailing in Southern Europe due to the stupidity of European economic leadership and the adoption of the Euro.
I don't think we have too much to learn from Euroland, the recent (and not unusual in the big picture) excesses notwithstanding.

[doodab]

OK the UK imposes some sort of tax on bankers and a fee on transactions.

The EU imposes a tax on financial transactions Europe wide

Would UK businesses be at a trading disadvantage?

London is considered the financial capital of Europe, this will be under threat as our financial service industry is quite a large part of our GDP

What is to stop the big players moving their entire trading base to a country that does not do this?

Nothing

How much money could the UK lose?

Lots

How many jobs could go?

Lots

I'd agree that a badly designed tax could be devestating for the city, but I don't think it's the case that such a tax has to be badly designed.

[Jog On]

All the usual suspects coming out with half-digested and half-understood tidbits they've garnered from the press.
For all their weasel words I don't see the proponents of punitive measures against the City (generally Europhiles) say much about the enforced depression conditions prevailing in Southern Europe due to the stupidity of European economic leadership and the adoption of the Euro.
I don't think we have too much to learn from Euroland, the recent (and not unusual in the big picture) excesses notwithstanding.

You'd think the last couple of days would reinforce why we don't want to be dicated to by the EU. Why do they want this tax and what exactly do they need the money for?

Is it to fund a massive bail out for Greece so they can turn around and say they'll have a vote on whether to accept it or not - then for Italy/Spain/Portugal/Ireland to say "Hey what about me?!"

This tax will be very very bad for UK PLC..

[doodab]

I also think the argument that the additional cost due to the tax will make London uncompetitive is somewhat spurious. London has astronomical labour and property costs yet you don't see a mass exodus of city firms because of that.

[Jog On]

I'd agree that a badly designed tax could be devestating for the city, but I don't think it's the case that such a tax has to be badly designed.

Well it will have to be designed well enough for the Chinese to agree to it as well, and the yanks..

Knock yourself out tax designers!