Geithner, Brown Split on Tobin Tax at Group of 20 Meeting
Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Group of 20 governments split on whether to tax financial trading as part of a broader strategy to ensure the global economy’s expansion is less crisis-prone.
U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a meeting of finance chiefs in St. Andrews, Scotland yesterday that such a levy could prevent excessive risk taking and fund future bank rescues, adding momentum to a debate begun by France. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said a “day-by-day” tax on speculation is “not something we’re prepared to support.”
The dispute over a so-called Tobin tax suggests that the unity the G-20 showed in battling the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is unraveling as its focus intensifies on how far to rein in the banking system. The outcome may determine the strength of markets as the recovery builds as well as the scope for banks to profit from them.
“The initial market reaction to talk of a Tobin tax is likely to be negative,” said Julian Jessop, a former U.K. Treasury official and now chief international economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London.
A day after U.S. data showed the unemployment rate rose more than economists forecast to a 26-year high, the G-20 also agreed to keep stimulating their economies until recoveries take hold. They mapped out a time plan to show how they will make growth across the world more even and less reliant on Chinese savings and U.S. domestic demand. FULL STORY
Cave Editor's Note - Just tax the taxpayers - not the banksters and wall street gamblers??
