Tobin Tax Initiative

1. Penalize short-term speculation in currencies
2. (for example) to provide the necessary funds to meet UN's Millennium Development Goals
3. And for organizations such as the UNDP

International - International Development and Relief Services

A Tobin tax is the suggested tax on all trade of currency across borders. Named after the economist James Tobin, the tax is intended to put a penalty on short-term speculation in currencies. The proposed tax rate would be low, between 0.1% to 0.25%.

On August 15, 1971, Richard Nixon announced that the US dollar would no longer convert to gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. Tobin suggested a new system for international currency stability, and proposed that such a system include an international charge on foreign-exchange transactions. Professor Tobin later received a Nobel Prize in Economics in 1981.

The idea lay dormant for more than 20 years. In 1997 Ignacio Ramonet, editor of Le Monde Diplomatique, renewed the debate around the Tobin tax with an editorial titled "Disarming the markets". Ramonet proposed to create an association for the introduction of this tax, which was named ATTAC (Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens). The tax has then become an issue of the antiglobalization movement and a matter of discussion not only behind academic institutions but even in the streets and in parliaments around the world, such as the UK and France.

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