March, 08 2011, 02:18pm EDT
Oxfam: European Parliament Sets the World Standard with an EU-wide Robin Hood Tax
The European Parliament today adopted a report advocating the EU press ahead with the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) on a unilateral basis to raise money for public goods, including development and climate change. The report was backed by MEPs from the whole political spectrum.
Elise Ford, head of Oxfam International's EU office, said:
BRUSSELS
The European Parliament today adopted a report advocating the EU press ahead with the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) on a unilateral basis to raise money for public goods, including development and climate change. The report was backed by MEPs from the whole political spectrum.
Elise Ford, head of Oxfam International's EU office, said:
"The European Parliament set the world standard today by pressing ahead on an EU-wide Robin Hood Tax. This is great news. The EU alone could raise tens of billions of euros to help millions of people pushed into poverty because of bankers' greed."
"With France chairing the G20 group this year, Europe is in an excellent position to make an FTT happen. We now urge MEPs to challenge their governments to back it. The EU summit later this month must be the place where the political weight tips in favor of an FTT in Europe."
International development agency Oxfam, alongside a broad coalition of civil society organizations, is calling for an average tax of 0.05% on share, currency, bond and derivative deals to help tackle pressing international challenges such as poverty and climate change. Only in Europe, this tax could generate EUR210 billion a year, according to the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (1).
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Oxfam International is a global movement of people who are fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice. We are working across regions in about 70 countries, with thousands of partners, and allies, supporting communities to build better lives for themselves, grow resilience and protect lives and livelihoods also in times of crisis.
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"This is a huge testament to our collective strength and resilience as a progressive movement," said the executive director of Justice Democrats.
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U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, a member of the progressive "Squad," won the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District on Tuesday, fending off an opponent whose campaign was backed by a billionaire Republican megadonor and ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Lee, a vocal critic of the Netanyahu government and leading supporter of a cease-fire in Gaza, handily defeated Bhavini Patel, a borough councilmember in Edgewood, Pennsylvania whose effort to unseat the progressive incumbent was bankrolled by Jeffrey Yass, the state's richest man. Patel actively courted Republican and pro-Israel voters, characterizing Lee as "fringe."
With more than 95% of the vote counted, Lee is ahead of Patel by more than 20 percentage points.
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