Oxfam presses G20 for tax on financial transactions
AFP
LONDON - British charity Oxfam joined calls for the G20 to adopt a tax on global financial transactions Friday, saying it could raise up to 50 billion dollars to help poor people.
In a paper published as G20 finance ministers gather for a meeting in London, Oxfam said the levy, also known as a Tobin tax, was one of several measures leaders could take to relieve poverty which would not hit taxpayers.
Others include reforming tax havens and reallocating International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout cash and could raise a total of 280 billion dollars, Oxfam said.
"Rich countries that spent 18 trillion dollars bailing out banks should not be allowed to plead tight budgets as an excuse for failing to help poor people, especially when there are alternative sources of funding available that would cost them little or nothing," said its senior policy advisor Max Lawson.
The head of Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulator Adair Turner caused controversy last month when he called for a tax on financial transactions to curb the sector, which he described as "swollen".
A Tobin tax is a small tax on foreign exchange transactions, originally proposed by American economist James Tobin in the 1970s to discourage speculative trading.
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"Rich countries that spent 18 trillion dollars bailing out banks should not be allowed to plead tight budgets as an excuse for failing to help poor people, especially when there are alternative sources of funding available that would cost them little or nothing," said its senior policy advisor Max Lawson.
The head of Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulator Adair Turner caused controversy last month when he called for a tax on financial transactions to curb the sector, which he described as "swollen".
A Tobin tax is a small tax on foreign exchange transactions, originally proposed by American economist James Tobin in the 1970s to discourage speculative trading.
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