Emerging Economies Join G20 Coalition to Tax Speculation

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Published on Friday, November 4, 2011 by Institute for Policy Studies Blog

Emerging Economies Join G20 Coalition to Tax Speculation
The struggle to tax Wall Street moved forward in Cannes.

by Sarah Anderson


Talk about piling on. Bill Gates, the Pope, Michael Moore, the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1,000 parliamentarians, 1,000 economists, the world's major labor leaders, Occupy Wall Street protestors, Oxfam and other major development groups, thousands of nurses, the World Wildlife Fund and other major enviros…It might be easier to list who didn't come out didn't come out in support of a Wall Street tax in the lead-up to this week's G20 summit in Cannes.

The outcome? No home run, but some measurable steps forward.

No one expected a G20-wide agreement on taxing financial transactions at this summit. Despite rising support, opposition from the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, among others, is still just too strong. But there were high hopes that a subset of European and non-European G20 countries would launch a "coalition of the willing" in support of the tax.

This goal was achieved. In his concluding press conference, summit host French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that South Africa, Brazil, and Argentina were joining the list of current supporters, including France, Germany, Spain, the European Commission, and several other European governments. Sarkozy said he hopes to move towards implementation in early 2012. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/04-8