Press Responses - March 31, 1999

PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun
DATE: 99.03.31
EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: Editorial
PAGE: A18
BYLINE: Jessica Van der Veen
SOURCE: Vancouver Sun

Tax those who gamble with fate of nations

Michael Campbell's column on the <Tobin> tax was an excellent anti-tax rant, but like so many of his columns incomplete (Backers of <Tobin> tax lack economic sophistication, March 27). The 0.1-per-cent levy is intended to deter and penalize only the currency speculators. They move money into and out of currencies many times per day. So they would pay the tax many times per day. Their speculation causes economic instability. This 0.1-per- cent tax would raise billions of dollars per year, which would be administered by a central organization (probably the United Nations) for the benefit of the people all over the world who are most in need of economic aid. This philosophy of taxation of gambling for the purpose of benefitting society is in keeping with Canadian practices on gambling and speculation. Legitimate foreign investment would be unhampered by the <Tobin> tax. Gambling with the fate of entire nations might be curtailed, and at the very least the <Tobin> tax would pay for some of the terrible damage this speculation causes.

Jessica Van der Veen Vancouver