The Deficit-Reducing Potential of a Financial Speculation Tax


 

Publication Date: January 2011

Publisher: Center for Economic and Policy Research

Author(s): Dean Baker

Research Area: Banking and finance; Economics

Keywords: budget deficit; tax; Wall Street; transactions tax

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

While a number of commissions and organizations around Washington have produced plans for reducing the projected deficit in the decades ahead, most have not included a financial speculation tax (FST) in the mix. This seems peculiar since an FST has several features that could make it attractive as a revenue source.