Funds from this Robin Hood Tax, which could raise upwards of $2.4 trillion, could be used to finance new social services, help address climate change and stabilize the financial sector.

In response to the bill’s introduction, Erich Pica, President of Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement:

We need the wealthy in this country to pay their fair share. A small tax on stock market speculation could generate billions to help slow the climate crisis and help our communities. Senator Sanders and Rep. Lee’s bill is positive step toward holding traders accountable while ensuring health and prosperity for all.

Communications contact: Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, pdavis@foe.org

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Ten major European countries made progress today in advancing a regional financial transaction tax, popularly known as a Robin Hood Tax. The timing – during the Paris Climate Summit – couldn’t be better to remind world leaders that there is indeed a good deal of money available to pay for climate finance, if there is political will. The cost of climate chaos is growing by the day, and the financial transaction tax is an invaluable means by which to make a down payment on the climate price tag.

In addition to civil society around the world, the Climate Vulnerable Forum and French President Hollande have recently called for a portion of the new FTT revenue to help close the climate finance gap, and help the world’s poor take climate action.

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Expert contact: Karen Orenstein, (202) 222-0717, korenstein@foe.org
Communications contact: EA Dyson, (202) 222-0730, edyson@foe.org

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Erich Pica, President of Friends of the Earth U.S., said:

Friends of the Earth U.S. wholeheartedly endorses the Inclusive Prosperity Act and urges its passage into law. By making Wall Street pay its fair share, this legislation would help shore up funding for public goods and services that keep people and our communities healthy and whole, at home and around the world.

As the Inclusive Prosperity Act demonstrates, there is not actually a scarcity of public funds for global public goods; it is a question of political will. Trillions of dollars have been rapidly made available to pay for wars and Wall Street bailouts, but what about the climate crisis?

More about a tax on Wall Street:

At no more than half-a-penny per transaction, a Wall Street tax is a micro-tax on financial trading of stocks, bonds, derivatives and other financial instruments — most of which are traded not by people, but by computers in a matter of micro-seconds. The tax would curb harmful speculation and raise hundreds of billions of dollars of new revenue. Eleven European countries are in the process of setting up a regional financial transaction tax.

The role of a Wall Street tax in international climate talks:

Though they have done little, and in some cases nothing at all, to cause the climate crisis, poor countries are the ones left footing a very expensive bill to deal with its fallout — a bill paid not only in money, but in lives lost and livelihoods destroyed.

The Inclusive Prosperity Act recognizes the enormous human and economic toll that climate change will take in the United States and in developing countries. It opens the door for a portion of this extremely promising, untapped revenue source to be used for “climate finance” – funds to help the world’s poor confront the climate crisis.

Developed countries will need to commit adequate sums of climate finance in order for major climate negotiations in Paris (at the end of 2015) to succeed. France has advocated for a portion of the revenue generated by the European FTT to help developing countries deal with climate disruption, and Friends of the Earth U.S. has called on the U.S. government to do the same.

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Expert contact: Karen Orenstein, (202) 222-0717, korenstein@foe.org
Communications contact: EA Dyson, (202) 222-0730, edyson@foe.org

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Lukas Ross, climate and energy campaigner:

On Tuesday, President Obama talked a good game about fixing a tax code rigged in favor of the ultra-rich. He also talked about the urgency of the climate crisis and all the work that still needs to be done. The problem is that he missed a chance to bring these two issues together. At the end of the day, we still have a tax system that transfers billions every year to polluters like Big Oil and King Coal. If the president wants to build a legacy on either tax reform or climate, then he needs to put a public bull’s-eye on these special giveaways.

Marissa Knodel, climate campaigner:

President Obama said we should listen to climate scientists and act forcefully to address the immediate and long-term threats climate change poses to present and future generations. Well, this is what the scientists are saying: if we are to avoid the worst consequences of climate disruption, we should leave two-thirds of the world’s remaining fossil fuels in the ground. To act forcefully and make this happen, President Obama should have called for an end to fossil fuel development and a transition to a 100 percent renewable energy economy.

Karen Orenstein, senior international policy analyst:

President Obama proposed several positive government initiatives to help ordinary folks in the U.S. — like free community college and more assistance for daycare. But he neglected to talk about an untapped source of funds that can help pay for these and other critical public needs, including money to help developing countries deal with climate change, which the U.S., more than other country, is responsible for causing: a Robin Hood tax! Also known as a financial transactions tax or Wall Street tax, it’s a tiny tax on trades of stocks, bonds and other financial instruments that would generate hundreds of billions of dollars of new revenue.

Just this month, senior Democratic leader Rep. Chris Van Hollen came out in favor of a Robin Hood tax, and it has long been championed by the chair of the Progressive Caucus, Rep. Keith Ellison, seen here plugging the Robin Hood tax in response to President Obama’s State of the Union address. Now it’s time for Obama to get on board. By making Wall Street pay its fair share, the Robin Hood tax can shore up funding for goods and services that keep people and our communities healthy and whole, at home and around the world.

Luisa Abbott Galvao, climate and energy associate:

I would have liked to hear of a bolder power plan, in both senses of the word. We should be revolutionizing not only what kinds of sources we use for power generation but also break the unfair control that big fossil fuel industries have over our energy matrix and politics. In addition to hearing about using clean, renewable sources like wind and solar, I would have liked to hear about feed-in tariffs and decentralized energy grids, to democratize energy provision and put power back in the hands of communities, which would at the same time also help improve our democracy, currently bought out by Big Oil.

For more on our State of the Union reaction, read our press release here and our and allies’ social media responses here.

The post A better way: What we would’ve liked to hear in the State of the Union appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) will join community, health, labor, student and environmental groups to kick start the People’s Climate March and United Nations Climate Summit 2014 with a rally hailing a Robin Hood Tax — a tax on Wall Street also known as a financial transaction tax — as a key solution to addressing the climate crisis. The rally will be held at 10 a.m. on Sunday, September 21 at the corner of W. 58th and Broadway in New York City.

Representative Ellison said, “A financial transaction tax would raise funds to help communities deal with the devastating effects of a rapidly changing climate and curb harmful high frequency trading.”

Jean Ross, RN, Co-president of National Nurses United said, “In my 40 years as a registered nurse, I’ve witnessed the devastating effects of environmental injustice on my patients.  The climate crisis is the number one threat to human health.  It’s time to implement real solutions.  The Robin Hood Tax is one of the most powerful ways to fund those solutions.”

The Robin Hood Tax is a tiny tax on trades of stocks, bonds and other financial instruments and would generate hundreds of billions of dollars of new revenue. Representative Ellison has introduced legislation to establish a Robin Hood Tax, the Inclusive Prosperity Act, H.R. 1579.

Robert Tolbert, board member of VOCAL-NY, said, “Nobel Prize-winning economists and billionaire businessmen are for it. The Pope is for it. But to move the idea past slick Wall Street lobbyists in Congress, we must show that the people are for it. That’s what the Robin Hood Tax contingent at the People’s Climate March will do.”

Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth U.S. said, “Poor countries have done little, and in some cases nothing at all, to cause the climate crisis. Yet they are the ones left footing a very expensive bill to deal with its fallout – a bill paid not only in money, but in lives lost and livelihoods destroyed. A Robin Hood Tax would generate public money that’s desperately needed to help people around the world.”

Eleven European countries, including Germany, are establishing a regional Robin Hood Tax. France, a member of that coalition, already has a Robin Hood Tax that generates revenue used, in part, to help developing countries address climate change.

Janet Redman of the Institute for Policy Studies said, “It’s past time for the U.S. to step up to the plate. Wall Street has made out like a bandit for far too long, and we need Robin Hood to set it right. While we see cuts in education, healthcare and environmental protection – and increases in inequality – Wall Street bankers continue to reap big profits and fat cat bonuses.”

Michael Tikili of Health GAP said, “By making Wall Street pay its fair share, the Robin Hood Tax can help shore up funding for goods and services that keep people and our communities healthy and whole, like providing money to help end the global AIDS pandemic.”

For more information about the Robin Hood Tax rally and the People’s Climate March, see the event Facebook page.

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Expert Contact:  Karen Orenstein, Senior international policy analyst, Friends of the Earth U.S., (202) 222-0717, korenstein@foe.org
Communications Contact: Kate Colwell, Communications specialist, Friends of the Earth U.S., (202) 222-0744, kcolwell@foe.org

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Why, you ask, should this much beloved hero, famed for taking from the rich what they stole from the poor, put in an appearance at an historic climate mobilization? (Hint: It’s not just because his beloved Sherwood Forest is on the chopping block.) It’s because a Robin Hood Tax — also known as a financial transaction tax, or a tax on Wall Street — is an important part of the strategy for dealing with the climate crisis.

Addressing the climate crisis, and the social inequity that is both a cause and a symptom of this great threat, will require deep cuts in climate pollution as well as large troves of money. In particular, there must be a massive transfer of resources from the global north (the rich) to the global south (the poor).

Poorer countries have done little, and in some cases nothing at all, to cause this crisis. Yet they are the ones left footing a very expensive bill to deal with its fallout — a bill paid not only in money, but in lives lost and livelihoods destroyed. And, of course, it is these same countries — and the farmers, fisherfolk, urban poor, children and others who make up the vast majority of their populations – that have the least capacity to pay this exorbitant bill. So who has the capacity and responsibility to pick up the tab?

Wall Street banks, and the U.S. government (that has time and again bailed out these banks), that’s who. Under the UN Climate Convention, rich countries have both a moral and legal obligation to provide this money, called “climate finance.” But they don’t want to pay up.

Instead, the U.S. and other rich nations are shifting attention away from themselves by waxing poetic about “mobilizing private finance.” Even UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is placing a strong emphasis on private finance at his Climate Summit. “Mobilizing private finance” means redirecting Wall Street money towards climate-friendly (and of course for Wall Street, profitable) investments. And while Wall Street indeed needs to divest from climate-destroying industries and invest in restorative ones, we still can’t let the poorest people on the planet pay the proverbial climate bill.

The only just way to go about this is for rich countries to pay, even though they claim to be broke. But public money can easily be found. How?  Simple: put a Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street!  As hundreds of thousands of us march on the streets of Manhattan on September 21, we should bear in mind that the city is sitting on a virtual gold mine of untapped public money incubating right downtown on Wall Street.

The Robin Hood Tax is a tiny tax on trades of stocks, bonds and other financial instruments that would generate hundreds of billions of dollars of new revenue. It is not actually a tax on the wealthy, but a tax on spurious wealth creation. As Robin Hood says, “It’s not a tax on the people; it’s a tax for the people.” And it would generate public money that’s desperately needed to help ordinary people around the world deal with increasingly frequent extreme weather events that wreak havoc on agriculture, food security, public health, infrastructure, transportation, livelihoods and lives.

Eleven European countries, including Germany, are establishing a regional Robin Hood Tax. France, a member of that coalition, already has a Robin Hood Tax that generates revenue used, in part, to help developing countries address climate change.

It’s past time for the U.S. to step up to the plate. Wall Street has made out like a bandit for far too long, and we need Robin Hood to set it right. While we see cuts in education, healthcare and environmental protection — and increases in poverty — Wall Street bankers continue to reap big profits and fat cat bonuses. By making Wall Street pay its fair share, the Robin Hood Tax can help shore up funding for goods and services that keep people and our communities healthy and whole, at home and around the world.

Representative Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) has introduced a legislative vehicle to help get the job done — the Inclusive Prosperity Act, H.R. 1579. It will be a heavy lift and a long road to get a bill like this past the slick Wall Street lobbyists and other heavily monied interests in Congress, but it can be done. Nobel Prize-winning economists Paul Krugman, James Tobin and Joseph Stiglitz are for it. Business people Bill Gates, George Soros and Warren Buffet are for it. The Pope is for it. But to move the idea in Congress, we’ll need to show that people are overwhelmingly for it. The Robin Hood Tax contingent at the People’s Climate March is an important step in that direction.

So, come September 21, put on your green tights and your felt hat and join our merry band on the streets of New York. We’ll be holding a Robin Hood Tax rally to kick off the march, replete with Robin Hood(s) and stops at Big Banks. We’ll assemble at 10 AM at the corner of W. 58^th and Broadway. For more information, please write to korenstein@foe.org.

The post Robin Hood to Ban Ki-moon: I can show you the money! appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

Friends, if it isn’t all ready clear, we are in this together. The global economic crisis, largely created by the various entities we want to tax, has forced austerity measures in both the European governments and the United States. These measures are impacting our capacity to create positive change and solve some of the pressing issues of our time — climate change, education, and access to medicines and public health doctors.

From the climate change perspective, we need a Robin Hood Tax. Around the world, communities are suffering as  global warming pollution — for which they are not responsible — wreaks havoc with their local climates. Heat waves in Asia and Europe are increasing in frequency; wildfires are raging in Australia (heck, in Australia they needed to create a temperature color to represent 130 degree temperatures). In Africa, temperatures are increasing, there are more floods and droughts and, consequently, failing agriculture. Island nations like the Maldives are slowly sinking into the ocean. The net impact will be increasing conflicts and food insecurity, which threatens the lives and livelihoods of many millions.

At home, we are all aware of the chaos and destruction Superstorm Sandy brought just last year. While devastating, New York and New Jersey will rebuild. It is the 130 communities in Alaska that, like the island nations, are sinking into the ocean. A place like Newtok, Alaska, will have to relocate its entire village at a cost of $130 million.

Around the world we are seeing the first signs of climate refugees.

Why is this relevant to the groups supporting a Robin Hood Tax? The obvious answer is that the impacts of global warming pollution will impact each and every one of us, from the air we breathe, to the food we eat, to the places that we live. In thinking more deeply on the issues Robin Hood Tax advocates are working on, we realize that all our issues are interconnected and that climate change will hugely impact many of them. Many of the major infectious diseases, such as diarrheal diseases, malnutrition, malaria and dengue are highly climate-sensitive and are expected to worsen as the climate changes.

There are also the financial practicalities of tackling climate change. It is going to take hundreds of billions — even trillions — of dollars to help communities adapt to and reduce their global warming pollution. In short, it is going to be enormously expensive.

The global response to funding this unmet demand has been anemic. The leaders of the world pledged $100 billion to start helping communities adapt to climate change or to reduce their carbon pollution. Unfortunately, instead of creating new monies and revenues, existing funds for development assistance, safe drinking water, education, healthcare access, improved disaster relief and micro-finance (to name a few) are being repurposed or reclassified for this $100 billion effort. Essentially, the governments of the world are creating either the world’s largest funding Ponzi scheme or simply robbing from Peter to pay Paul, with the lives millions of people on the line.

Even more insidious, the governments of the world think that private investors, the same folks that created the economic mess, will be able to contribute to the $100 billion. They plan, essentially, to privatize and and create profit from people’s suffering.

This is why I and Friends of the Earth are fighting for a Robin Hood Tax. The response to the global climate crisis should not be privatized, nor should it be allowed to pillage other efforts for financial resources. We do not have a financial problem as much as we have a leadership problem. A leadership problem that we can all overcome together.

It’s time we make good. It’s time we make good to make sure we leave a livable planet for our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren. Whether you live in New Orleans, New York, Nigeria or Nepal, we’re all going to be impacted by climate change, and we’re all in this together. The fight against the climate crisis is a fight for global health, a fight against global poverty, a fight for good green jobs, a fight for education and most importantly, a fight for justice. I am inspired and proud to be working along side the National Nurses Union, National Peoples Action, Student Global Aids Campaign, Vocal-New York and the many others doing this important work.

(The above blog post was adapted from a speech given by Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica at the 2013 Robin Hood Tax Action Conference)

Image credit: Robin Hood Tax USA, Flickr

The post Addressing the climate crisis with a Robin Hood Tax appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

The concept behind the Inclusive Prosperity Act is simple. When the banks and Wall Street were on the verge of collapse, taxpayers were forced to step in with trillions of dollars to bail them out. As Wall Street executives sit on fat cat bonuses, it’s past time for the big banks to repay the American people, starting with a financial transaction tax. Or, as we call it, the Robin Hood Tax.

When enacted, the Inclusive Prosperity Act would implement a fraction of a percent tax on financial transactions. While minuscule, the cumulative impact of the tax would raise some $350 billion in one year, and would help keep communities healthy and whole, both at home and around the world.

From an environmental and justice perspective, the Inclusive Prosperity Act recognizes the enormous human and economic toll that climate change will take in the United States and in developing countries. It opens the door for a portion of this extremely promising, untapped revenue source to be used to help the world’s poor confront the climate crisis, a crisis which they did not cause.

This isn’t a new idea. France has dedicated a portion of the revenue from its financial transaction tax to help poor countries combat climate change.  And 11 European Union countries are in the process of implementing a regional financial transaction tax. The United States, the world’s biggest economy and the country most responsible for causing climate change and the financial crisis, should follow suit.

The Inclusive Prosperity Act calls into question Washington’s political will to do something that challenges Wall Street and demonstrates that there is not actually a scarcity of public funds for global public goods.

Congressman Ellison and the co-sponsors of the Inclusive Prosperity Act have the political will to challenge Wall Street.  Friends of the Earth is proud to endorse and support their efforts. President Obama should do the same. It is well past time for Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to not only stop trying to tamp down on other countries’ effort to establish a Robin Hood Tax, but to actually come out publicly in favor of it.

PS- If you are in Washington, DC this weekend, please join Friends of the Earth and our colleagues at the Robin Hood Tax Rally outside of the World Bank on Saturday, April 20 at 12:00.

The post Robin Hood comes to Congress appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

“Friends of the Earth U.S. wholeheartedly endorses the Inclusive Prosperity Act and urges its passage into law. By making Wall Street pay its fair share, this legislation would help shore up funding for services that keep people and our communities healthy and whole, both at home and around the world.

“This forward-looking legislation recognizes the enormous human and economic toll that climate change will take in the United States and in developing countries. Like a similar proposal in France, it opens the door for a portion of this extremely promising, untapped revenue source to be used to help the world’s poor confront the climate crisis.

“As the Inclusive Prosperity Act demonstrates, there is not actually a scarcity of public funds for global public goods; it is a question of political will. Trillions of dollars were rapidly made available to pay for wars and Wall Street bailouts, but what about the climate crisis?”

At no more than half-a-penny per transaction, the Robin Hood Tax is a micro-tax on Wall Street trading that would curb harmful speculation and raise hundreds of billions of dollars of new revenue to pay for urgently-needed public goods and services, like helping the poor cope with the threats to public health and food shortages caused by our changing climate. It would apply to financial transactions such as the trading of stocks, bonds, derivatives and other financial instruments — most of which are traded not by people, but by computers in a matter of micro-seconds.

Forty countries have implemented financial transactions taxes, more than one thousand economists have endorsed the FTT and 11 European nations are in the process of implementing a regional FTT.

Momentum for the Robin Hood Tax will continue with a rally and march beginning at noon on Saturday, April 20, sponsored by the Robin Hood Tax Campaign, of which Friends of the Earth U.S. is a member. The rally will start at Murrow Park (adjacent to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue, between 18th and 19th Streets), followed by a march to the White House and U.S. Treasury Department to demand a Robin Hood Tax. For more information, see www.robinhoodtax.org/get-involved.

Contact:

Karen Orenstein, (202) 640-8679, korenstein@foe.org

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Friends of the Earth fights to create a more healthy and just world. Our current campaigns focus on promoting clean energy and solutions to climate change, keeping toxic and risky technologies out of the food we eat and products we use, and protecting marine ecosystems and the people who live and work near them.

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