Global Policy Forum

War on Want Campaign for

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By Steve Tibbett

February 13, 1999 This spring War on Want will launch a high-profile campaign calling for a tax on currency speculation. The campaign will be calling on British finance minister Gordon Brown to adopt the Tobin Tax and use Britain's leverage in the EU, G7, IMF and UN to push forward the idea. With huge upheavals in global finance, and with speculation pushing so many developing countries over the economic precipice, the time for such a measure is more than ripe.

The tax was first proposed by Nobel Laureate James Tobin in 1970's but has since been taken up by, among others, the UN, the Canadian parliament and the French newspaper Le Monde. It would deliver a win-win situation for those at the sharp end of globalisation. It means helping the poor by taxing those who can afford it most, while at the same damping-down damaging speculation. It is also one of the few concrete proposals on financial reform that has been widely advocated.

The campaign will be launched in the run-up to the IMF Spring meetings in April. It also aims to bring together some of the existing work that has been done on the Tax.


Steve Tibbett is Research and Campaigns Officer for War on Want
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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.