Briarpatch Magazine: Tax the Global Casino - Openers - James Tobin's proposed taxation of cross-bord

In March 2002 the United Nations will hold an important International Conference in Mexico on the Financing of Development. This UN conference will present a chance for the Canadian Government to show some leadership and follow through on the resolution (Motion 239) adopted by Parliament in 1999, with the unanimous support of all Parties, in favour of the implementation of the Tobin tax, in cooperation with the international community.

A multilateral tax on cross-border financial transfers (over a trillion dollars each day) was first proposed by James Tobin, economics Nobel Prize winner. A transaction tax of under 0.5 percent could be an efficient mechanism to allow societal benefits from this financial flow while reducing large scale foreign exchange speculation, which often weakens national currencies and has caused major social crises in targeted countries.

According to Raymond Favreau of ATTAC-Quebec (the Association for Taxation of International Financial Transactions to Aid Citizens), a campaign has recently been launched to press the Canadian Government into action. They ask that you write to your MP urging her or him to make representations nationally and on the world scene in favour of the Tobin tax and to join other MP's of many countries by signing the World Appeal on the internet at www.tobintaxcall.free. As we go to press, of the 842 signatures collected so far, very few of them are Canadian parliamentarians.