The Obama administration had, as most readers will recall, proposed a financial respohnsibility tax for the "too big to fail" banks that have been aided by the government. I've suggested we should do something similar as a permanent tax on leverage, to tamp down risk taking and to raise needed revenues from a reasonable source--essentially, as a cost of the "cost of funds" advantage that the big banks have due to the implicit federal guarantee.
A European Commission report published April 6 prposes a tax similar to the Obama proposal in the EU, noting that it would raise about $67 billion annually. BNA Daily Tax RealTime (Apr. 6, 2010). The report noted the "double dividend" from discouraging risks taking and raising revenues and suggested this would be preferable to a financial transaction tax.
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