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A Robin Hood Tax on banks’ financial transactions could raise hundreds of billions of pounds to fight poverty, protect public services and tackle climate change, according to the new campaign from a coalition of charities and not for profit organisations including Comic Relief.
The campaign is calling on the leaders of the UK’s political parties to support a global tax on the banks to help protect public services at home, fight poverty at home and abroad and help foot the bill for climate change.
The campaign, supported by over 50 organisations including Oxfam, the TUC, Barnardo’s, the Salvation Army, Action Aid and Save the Children, is launched with a promotional film starring Bill Nighy, written and directed by Richard Curtis, our very own founder.
The Robin Hood Tax would not be levied on banks’ transactions with their high street customers, but only apply to transactions between financial institutions. The tax suggested would be 0.05 per cent.
But even such a tiny tax would raise hundreds of billions of pounds a year given the scale of transactions – experts have estimated an international transaction tax system could eventually raise as much as £250bn every year.
The campaign is calling for countries which levy the tax to keep 50 per cent of the proceeds domestically and for the rest to be split 50-50 between poverty reduction and tackling climate change. The UK’s share of the tax would amount to tens of billions of pounds and could be used to avoid cuts to vital public services and to support a range of good causes from meeting the UK’s own target to end child poverty to the global Millennium Development Goal to cut child deaths by two-thirds.
Click to visit the website (opens in new window)to find out more about the campaign and see what you can do.
