CWA Supports Harkin/DeFazio Wall Street Trading Tax Legislation

Washington, D.C. – The Communications Workers of America strongly endorsed legislation introduced today that would impose a tax on computer-driven high- volume short- term speculative trading on Wall Street, while protecting traditional investment strategies pursued by corporations, traders and the general public.

The Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon), would impose a tax of three cents on every $100 traded, balanced by tax credits for contributions into tax-deferred retirement accounts as well as education and health savings accounts. The bill is specifically designed to impact only those involved in high-volume, short-term speculative trading, a key contributor to the Great Recession of 2008.

Proceeds from the so-called Financial Speculation Tax would contribute $352 billion to deficit reduction over the next ten years with negligible effect on the economy, while freeing up funds for job creating activities like a national infrastructure repair program and universal broadband build out.

Recent public polling indicates considerable support for a financial trading tax.  The latest poll, by Mark Mellman and Associates, found 65 percent of Americans think increasing taxes on Wall Street types who helped drive our economy into recession is a better way to reduce the nation’s deficit than cutting programs that benefit the other 99 percent of Americans.

CONTACT: Chuck Porcari, CWA Communications, cporcari@cwa-union.org and Kendra Marr Chaikind, kmarr@cwa-union.org, 202-434-1168