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" The songs of our ancestors

are also the songs of our children "

The Druid Way

Osborne in Tax Shame

May 16th, 2013

The Robin Hood Tax is an admirable idea that most of Europe agrees with…but sadly not Britain’s Chancellor. Now he is trying to interfere with the rest of Europe implementing it. See the message from the Campaign below. And if you’re in the USA see the US Campaign here: www.robinhoodtax.org

If you don’t know what the tax is, watch the videos from the US and UK Campaigns here, and listen to Damh the Bard’s stirring song ‘Sons & Daughters of Robin Hood’.

Just a few months ago we were delighted to share the good news with you: eleven countries in Europe pledged to introduce Robin Hood Taxes — netting a combined whopping £30 billion. It’s hard to believe, but those taxes are now under threat from our government.
These taxes were the result of European leaders listening to the millions of ordinary people demanding the banks pay their fair share. George Osborne tried to block progress at every turn but European leaders fought on and we got the right result. But after losing the moral and practical arguments George Osborne is resorting to a desperate legal challenge to try and block these countries from introducing their own taxes.

We need to act fast to stop this dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham move and ensure these countries can introduce Robin Hood Taxes. Osborne tried to sneak this one unnoticed late on a Friday afternoon. But by speaking up and standing together we can send a clear message – we know what’s happening and we won’t let them get away with it.

Can you sign the petition to stop this uncalled for legal challenge?

Make no mistake this is not about defending British interests in Europe — it’s about defending the interests of this Government’s friends in the City of London. This legal challenge should be seen for what it is: a desperate last-ditch effort to protect the obscene profitability of our bloated financial sector.

In the UK, and across Europe we all paid to bail out the banks. And millions of us are still feeling the pain. These proposed financial transaction taxes are small but significant steps in ensuring the banks begin to pay their fair share. And that £30 billion would provide vital funds that can pay for healthcare and education at home, help people in the poorest countries and fight climate change.

Yes, I will sign the petition telling Chancellor George Osborne to drop this legal challenge.

2 Responses to “Osborne in Tax Shame”

  1. Good to see this coming around again – (& Damh should sing that song in Oxfordshire sometime!)

  2. The ironic thing is that we already have a transaction tax in the UK, it’s called Stamp Duty: https://www.gov.uk/tax-buying-selling-shares/buying-shares I’m not sure how the EU transaction tax differs from this.

    Osborne is against the European FTT because it would “hit” transactions between UK and other European organisations. We would have to collect it, but then pass it over to the EU.

    More details here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15552412

    I don’t see much of a downside. These sorts of taxes are always less than one percent, so the money gathered, though the overall sum is large, is minuscule compared to the value of the transactions that have been taxed. If you think that less than 1 percent will raise, say, 30 billion, that means 30 billion is less than 1 percent of the value of the transaction. That’s a seriously fucked up amount of money.

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