In 1978, James Tobin, a Nobel prizewinning American economist, proposed a very small tax on foreign exchange transactions to deter short-term currency speculation. Such speculation wreaks havoc on national budgets, economic planning and allocation of resources. Events including the Mexican peso crisis in 1994 and recent currency devaluations in Thailand and Southeast Asia have led to calls by governments and citizens for measures to curb currency speculation.

A Tiny Tax Could Do a World of Good
By Philippe Douste-Blazy
September 23, 2009
As leaders of the world’s largest economies gather today in Pittsburgh for the Group of 20 meeting, people in the world’s poorest countries will likely look on with a mix of hope and trepidation, wondering whether their needs will figure in the deliberations at all. The G-20 nations could help both the poor and the global economy by fully financing lagging efforts to fight poverty and disease worldwide, and the best way to do this would be to impose a very small tax on the prosperous foreign exchange industry.
Source:
New York Times
Author Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister from 2005 to 2007, is the chairman of UNITAID and a special adviser to the United Nations secretary general on innovative financing.
UNITAID’s mission is to contribute to scaling up access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, primarily for people in low-income countries, by leveraging price reductions for quality diagnostics and medicines and accelerating the pace at which these are made available.

Related links:

Tobin-lite could raise £3 Billion for third world
By Ashley Seager
7 April 2005
A new campaign will be launched today to persuade the government to levy a stamp duty on foreign exchange trading that would raise billions of pounds for poverty relief in developing countries.
Source:
The Guardian

Stamp Out Poverty (U.K.)- Campaigning for new sources of development finance
We are committed to the implementation of additional sources of finance, specifically duties or levies, to generate reliable income streams for the provision of long term sustainable development; and to combat, where linked, causes of poverty such as economic and environmental harm to developing countries.

War on Want (U.K.)
War on Want fights poverty in developing countries in partnership with people affected by globalisation.
We campaign for human rights and against the root causes of global poverty, inequality and injustice.

United Nations Millennium Development Goals
* End Poverty and Hunger
* Universal Education
* Gender Equality
* Child Health
* Maternal Health
* Combat HIV/AIDS
* Environmental Sustainability
* Global Partnership
Source:
United Nations

Canada

The Tobin Tax
Source:
Halifax Inititative
The Halifax Initiative is a Canadian coalition of development, environment, faith-based, human rights and labour groups. Our goal is to fundamentally transform the international financial system and its institutions, namely the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and export credit agencies. By doing so, we hope to achieve poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and the full realization of human rights.

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Currency Transaction Tax (A Halifax Initiative sister site)
Money has become a commodity rather than a means of exchange, trading at a volume of over US$ 1.2 trillion dollars per day. This enormous amount moves around the world without restriction, seeking maximum short-term profit. When currency speculators “bet” against a currency and rapidly withdraw billions from a country, they wreck havoc on its economy and people’s lives. Leading economists, including the late James Tobin, Rodney Schmidt, Paul Bernd Spahn and others have proposed that the international trade in currencies be taxed in order to promote international economic stability and help prevent financial crises. A global citizen’s movement has emerged in support of the currency transactions tax, or “Tobin” tax as it is often called. The tax is a means to reassert national economic sovereignty, help prevent financial crises and generate billions of dollars for global social development and environmental protection.

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ATTAC-Québec (French only)
Association pour la Taxation des Transactions pour l'Aide aux Citoyens

United States

The Tobin Tax Initiative
A project of the International Innovative Revenue Project,
within the Center for Environmental Economic Development in California.

- incl. links to the following:
* What are Tobin Taxes?
* Tobin Tax Bibliography
* Publications and Resources
* Who We Are
* Campaigns Around the World
* US Campaigns

Tobin Tax Campaign and Policy Network
Links to groups promoting the Tobin Tax around the world, including Canada

GLOBAL POLICY FORUM
New York
"Global Policy Forum monitors policy making at the United Nations, promotes accountability of global decisions, educates and mobilizes for global citizen participation, and advocates on vital issues of international peace and justice."
* Social and Economic Policy
* Human Rights and Transnational Corporations
* Bretton Woods Institutions & the World Trade Organization

Financing for Development - Links and Resources

Currency Transaction Taxes
- incl. links to dozens of proposals, analyses and articles about currency transaction taxes,
from 2003 right back to the original Proposal for Monetary Reform by James Tobin in 1978.