According to the front page of today's Guardian, Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England told a Treasury Select Committee that "people made unemployed and businesses bankrupted during the crisis had every reason to be resentful and voice their protest." He told the Treasury select committee that the billions spent bailing out the banks and the need for public spending cuts were the fault of the financial services sector.
"The price of this financial crisis is being borne by people who absolutely did not cause it," he said. "Now is the period when the cost is being paid, I'm surprised that the degree of public anger has not been greater than it has."
I couldn't have put it better myself. According to the Robin Hood Tax website, the UK banking bailout has cost £1.5 trillion - £31,250 for each and every taxpayer in the country (it's a shame that they don't provide the source of the numbers, but oh well). But it's clear that this will take a very very long time to pay off by ordinary tax payers. It really seems obvious to me that something needs to be done, and I believe that I know what the answer is - A flat rate Financial Transaction Tax of 1%.
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