World leaders committed themselves in the year 2000 to the Millennium Development Goals - to halve world poverty, combat treatable disease and provide basic schooling in poor countries by 2015.
Yet meeting these goals on health, education, clean water and sanitation will require at least an extra $100 billion a year on top of what is being spent now.
Let's put this in context, US$100 billion is not expensive:
AIG, a single insurance group, was recently bailed out to the tune of US$85 billion.
The world’s military expenditure is in excess of US$1,000 billion annually – ten times more.
New ways need to be found to raise these extra funds. The richest market in the world – the trade in money itself - could provide the solution.
Given the thousands of billions of dollars traded every day it is extraordinary that governments have, to date, exempted this market from any kind of duty.
A tiny charge on currency transactions could raise this urgently needed revenue now.
- Click here to watch the campaign film: 'Can Pay, Should Pay', introduced by Jon Snow
- Click here to download the Stamp Out Poverty briefing, which makes the case for a stamp duty on sterling currency transactions
- Click here to find out more about the Millennium Development Goals
The Proposal
In the case of the UK, the government would introduce a very small stamp duty of half of one hundredth of 1% (0.005%) on sterling currency transactions. This would generate at least £2.5 billion of income each year. The revenue would be ring-fenced for spending on international development.
Why it Works
Stamp duties are a proven way to raise revenue; the stamp duty on share transactions alone raises more than £5 billion each year in the UK.
The currency market is immense, according to latest official figures it is worth US$800,000 billion a year.
The proposed rate of duty is so modest that experts agree the market can afford it without damaging trade or causing loss of business in the City of London.
The market is fully electronic. Collection is computerised. Payment is automatic when a currency trade is settled. It is, therefore, efficient and inexpensive to apply with little scope for avoidance.
The duty would be simple to implement by Parliament - it could be enacted at the next budget.
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