The overselling of financial transaction taxes

A 'Robin Hood tax' would not have stopped the 2008 financial crisis. We need better regulation of financial markets and a progressive tax on consumption

However November's US presidential election turns out, one proposal that will probably live on is the introduction of a financial transaction tax (FTT). While by no means a crazy idea, an FTT is hardly the panacea that its hard-left advocates hold it out to be. It is certainly a poor substitute for deeper tax reform aimed at making the system simpler, more transparent, and more progressive.

As American society ages and domestic inequality worsens, and assuming that interest rates on the national debt eventually rise, taxes will need to go up, urgently on the wealthy but some day on the middle class. There is no magic wand, and the politically expedient idea of a "Robin Hood" tax on trading is being badly oversold.

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