17 May 2014
Lancashire County Council has become the 50th local authority to agree to lobby Government to sign up to the Financial Transaction Tax. The motion was proposed at the County’s Full Council meeting on 15th May by Gina Dowding, Lancashire’s Green County Councillor representing Lancaster Central and also a European elections candidate.
Lancaster City Council was one of the first to pass such a motion in 2012, and Preston Council recently followed suit.
The Robin Hood Tax – or Financial Transaction Tax (1) is a tax on all financial exchanges, including shares, bonds and derivatives. Even at the rate of 0.05%, the tax could raise up to £250bn per year globally and up to £20bn per year nationally.
County Councillor Gina Dowding said “The money raised could be used to provide the vital council funding for services that are being decimated by government cuts.
“A Robin Hood Tax would ensure that the number of high risk financial transactions, the gambling which helped to trigger the financial crisis, would be curtailed. By curbing some of the worst financial sector excesses, a Robin Hood tax would help to rebalance the economy.
“We are sending a clear message to the government that we want a finance system that works for the common good, not the vested interests of the few”
Peter Cranie who is the Green Party’s lead North West European candidate said:
“The Green group in the European Parliament has been instrumental in pushing for a FTT. Eleven Member States including Germany, France, Italy and Spain have decided it is crucial to put people before the profits of their big banks and financial speculators and introduce an FTT [2]. The UK government on the other hand has continued to block the tax in order to promote business as usual in the City of London”
Notes
[1] Further information on the Financial Transaction Tax from the Robin Hood campaign: http://bit.ly/JRWsfB
[2] European Commission information on the FTT in Europe http://bit.ly/1mpfmcq
[3] A link to the story of Lancaster Councillors proposing the Robin Hood tax http://www.lancastergreenparty.org.uk/pdfs/13_7_24_robinhoodtax.pdf
[4] in The North West Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester, Chorley and Blackpool and Preston Councils have also signed up so far.
Motion for Full Council – text below
Lancashire County Council believes that Britain should join the 11 European countries that have pledged to introduce a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) on all financial exchanges, including shares, bonds and derivatives, in the process targeting those who precipitated the financial crisis and going some way to paying off the national debt.
This should be part of a wider programme that proceeds with the urgent reform of the banks, which must include separating the high‐street and investment arms of banking , a crackdown on high‐earners' and corporate tax avoidance, and proper regulation of the markets.
Further, the revenue raised should be used, among other things, to reduce cuts in funding to the public sector.
Lancashire Council resolves to ask to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to adopt the Financial Transaction Tax.
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