Make Wall Street Pay!

More than 3 years after Wall Street and corporate CEO greed and fraud crashed the economy, not a single 'bankster' has gone to jail. While millions of Americans have been pushed out of jobs and homes, the Wall Street big banks are even bigger and the top execs (the 1%) are back to massive profits and bonuses. The people and institutions that caused the crisis should pay to fix it.

JOBS NOT CUTS!

America is NOT broke; the social contract has been broken.  It's time for Wall Street and the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes, to restore our economy, our infrastructure and education.

A small tax on financial market transactions has the potential to raise significant revenue and simultaneously limit reckless short-term speculation that can threaten financial stability. We are writing to ask you to support such a tax, and to request that it be part of any new budget plan.

Financial transaction taxes have a long track record both in the United States and globally. The United States had a transfer tax from 1914 to 1966. The UK levies a transaction tax on stock transfers and has done so for many years.

The European Union is on the verge of approving a small transaction tax, including ten cents per $100 on stock transactions. The tiny transaction tax they are working on is estimated to raise over $70 billion annually. A similar transaction tax in the United States would raise even more money, as our financial markets are larger.

We join over 1,000 economists who recently signed an open letter advocating a financial speculation tax as "technically feasible" and "morally right."