The Robin Hood Tax could support public services and combat poverty and climate change in the UK and abroad. Imogen Davies looks at the campaign’s huge popularity.
It has been called “a formidable online campaign” by Gordon Brown and, looking at the figures, that’s no exaggeration. 70,000 people have voted in favour of the Robin Hood Tax on the website, and 40,000 have signed up for e-mail updates. There are 140,000 Facebook fans and 3,000 Twitter followers, and almost one million people have seen Bill Nighy and Richard Curtis’s promotional video. It’s hard to think of another campaign which has captured the public imagination on such a scale.
The one small figure in all of this is the 0.05% tax on financial transactions that supporters are asking for. Despite the tiny percentage, the tax has the potential to raise hundreds of billions every year – as much as £250bn. Many people feel that following the financial crisis and the bailout of the banking sector, it’s time for banks to give something back to the societies they serve.
The Robin Hood Tax would do just that, providing the billions needed to protect public services and combat poverty in the UK, as well as funding health and education and tackling the effects of climate change in developing countries. Importantly, the tax would be on speculative financial trading of stocks, bonds, and foreign exchange (the kinds of transactions Lord Turner, Head of the Financial Services Authority, described as “socially useless”), rather than high street banking – so it wouldn’t affect everyday people. During these dark financial times, it’s a way of bringing about positive change all over the world.
The variety and number of organisations (over one hundred) that form the Robin Hood Tax Coalition demonstrates the range of people that this campaign has struck a chord with. UK poverty groups such as Barnardo’s and Save the Children; International Development NGOs like Oxfam and ActionAid; environmental charities including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth – all are united in their goal of “turning a crisis for the banks into an opportunity for the world”.
And they are not alone: a range of heavyweight commentators is backing the campaign; supporters include Revd. Jesse Jackson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and over 350 economists such as Jeffrey Sachs and Nobel Laureates Joseph Stiglitz and Daniel McFadden. Sachs has been particularly dedicated in his support, attending an event at the RSA in London to explain that the tax is needed both to provide revenue “to meet our commitments to the world’s poorest people” and to reign in a financial sector which is “undertaxed and out of control”.
The campaign has already received an enormous boost from Europe, where the European Parliament has voted in favour by a margin of 560 to 80. Both French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have backed a financial transaction tax, while the Belgian and Austrian governments have said they feel the EU should go ahead with the tax without waiting for the rest of the world. Japanese Finance Minister Katsuya Okada has also been vocal in his support.
But with an election just around the corner, it’s here in the UK that the need to convince politicians is most pressing. And at a time like this, it’s not the bankers or businessmen who hold most sway among politicians – it’s the voters. Following pressure from supporters, 130 MPs have now signed a Robin Hood Tax Early Day Motion, and an unprecedented number attended a parliamentary briefing and debate on the campaign’s proposals. Most recently, advocates have asked Alistair Darling to include plans for a tax on sterling transactions in the final budget before the General Election, and the race is on to get as many MPs and parliamentary candidates on board as possible.
Rewriting social contracts; revolutionising the relationship between people and banks – these are all big goals. With the election fast approaching, we’re going to need all the help we can get. But given the huge momentum and support we have behind us, we might just do it.
Find out more about the Robin Hood Tax