Occupy: Social Responsibility Direction Change ROBIN HOOD TAX - City of London Bankers

Have you heard this idea about the Robin Hood bankers tax? Yes It's a sweet little idea, taxing the banks to help the poor But I... I don't think it will work, it's very complicated and it would be very tough on the banking sector Which has just been given billions of Pounds of taxpayer's money to keep it going Well, yeah, of course And is now paying itself billions of pounds in bonuses Yes So the tax is a charge on all bank transactions that don't include members of the public Bonds, derivatives, currency... Speculative stuff, is that right? Yeah, something... like that very complex So the bankers would give, how much from each deal they do? 25%? No... not that much 10%? no 5%? no, not 5 More or less? slightly less 1%? Not quite Half of one percent? no A tenth of a percent? no Half of that? give it a 0.05% of every deal? Mmm yeah, that sounds about right Sometimes it'd be even less! That doesen't sound like a lot to most people No I can see that And how much would it raise to help people at home and abroad? Oh, a fair amount, I believe A million pounds a year? More than that A hundred million pounds? Er.. more Five hundred million pounds? A billion pounds? No, it's slightly more than that, I'm told Ten billion pounds? more Fifty billion pounds? Yeah.. that sounds about right In fact, I believe it's likely to be more than a hundred billion pounds Could be double that? Could be more than double? Er... yeah, possibly Right, so let me get this clear A tiny tax on the banks could raise billions of pounds every year To help save lives in the poorest countries Fund crucial action against climate change around the world And help avoid cuts to crucial public services in this country Gosh... yeah, that is about the... sum of it I don't know, perhaps it's... Quite a good idea