{ "id": "R42078", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "R", "number": "R42078", "active": true, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "title": "Financial Transactions Taxes: In Brief", "retrieved": "2021-03-05T04:03:07.731149", "id": "R42078_10_2021-02-23", "formats": [ { "filename": "files/2021-02-23_R42078_45a6ee354c9213ab99383fa66dfd7ebce524f588.pdf", "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R42078/10", "sha1": "45a6ee354c9213ab99383fa66dfd7ebce524f588" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2021-02-23_R42078_45a6ee354c9213ab99383fa66dfd7ebce524f588.html" } ], "date": "2021-02-23", "summary": null, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "typeId": "R", "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R42078", "type": "CRS Report" }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 594920, "date": "2019-03-27", "retrieved": "2019-12-20T19:38:41.304929", "title": "Financial Transactions Taxes: In Brief", "summary": "Since the financial crisis and the ensuing 2008-2009 Great Recession, the idea of imposing a tax on financial transactions has appeared somewhat frequently in policy debates. At its most basic level, a financial transaction tax (FTT) is a tax imposed on the buyer or seller of a security at the time a financial transaction occurs. An FTT can be applied across the board to all financial transactions, or only those involving specific types of securities (for example, stocks, options, and futures, but not bonds). Similarly, an FTT can be applied to the transactions of all traders, or selectively to only certain types, such as those made by institutional traders but not individual investors. \nWhile an FTT can come in many different forms, three justifications are commonly offered for imposing such a tax: (1) it would reduce financial market volatility by reducing speculation, (2) it would generate a significant amount of revenue, and (3) it would help pay for recent and future federal assistance to the institutions that are viewed by some as the source of the financial instability (aka, \u201cWall Street\u201d). This report briefly discusses the concept of an FTT in a historical and international context, summarizes recent FTT proposals, examines the tax\u2019s effect on financial market volatility and speculation, and analyzes the revenue potential.\nOpponents of the tax also generally offer a number of objections. First, it is argued that the tax will introduce distortions into the marketplace as well as raise the cost of capital for businesses seeking to finance investment. Second, if raising revenue is the objective it is not clear that an FTT is the best of all available options. Third, if the tax is effective at raising a large amount of revenue this would seem to imply that its ability to reduce speculation and high-frequency trading is low (and vice versa). And fourth, regulators may be better suited to increase transparency and reduce volatility using the set of tools at their disposal, which may more directly target improving the function of financial markets if the current financial environment is viewed to have problems.\nFinancial transactions tax (FTT), Securities transactions tax (STT), Tobin tax, speculation, speculators, volatility, stocks, options, futures, swaps, derivatives, high-frequency traders, day traders, S. 647, H.R. 1516, H.R. 2306 , H.R. 5745, S. 1371, S. 1373, and H.R. 1464, H.R. 880, S. 277, S. 410, H.R. 3313, H.R. 3638, H.R. 5727, S. 1787, S. 2252 wall street, flash crash", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R42078", "sha1": "dc956852a9912478d3b67fbe2c77ac946303b407", "filename": "files/20190327_R42078_dc956852a9912478d3b67fbe2c77ac946303b407.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R42078", "sha1": "5524db03c1b2903542ec69f379d63fdefce09676", "filename": "files/20190327_R42078_5524db03c1b2903542ec69f379d63fdefce09676.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 466093, "date": "2017-09-19", "retrieved": "2017-10-02T22:16:16.629568", "title": "Financial Transactions Taxes: In Brief ", "summary": "Financial transactions tax (FTT), Securities transactions tax (STT), Tobin tax, speculation, speculators, volatility, stocks, options, futures, swaps, derivatives, high-frequency traders, day traders, H.R. 2306 , H.R. 5745, S. 1371, S. 1373, and H.R. 1464, H.R. 880, S. 277, S. 410, H.R. 3313, H.R. 3638, H.R. 5727, S. 1787, S. 2252 wall street, flash crash", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R42078", "sha1": "e6c292f1675006c4efd23659d6336fb31322a7a5", "filename": "files/20170919_R42078_e6c292f1675006c4efd23659d6336fb31322a7a5.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R42078", "sha1": "5ac12717364bff072bfef218bab25d7154766cf3", "filename": "files/20170919_R42078_5ac12717364bff072bfef218bab25d7154766cf3.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 446565, "date": "2015-10-22", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T18:07:06.432464", "title": "Financial Transactions Taxes: In Brief ", "summary": "Financial transactions tax (FTT), Securities transactions tax (STT), Tobin tax, speculation, speculators, volatility, stocks, options, futures, swaps, derivatives, high-frequency traders, day traders, S. 1371, S. 1373, and H.R. 1464, wall street, flash crash", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R42078", "sha1": "465a2dc051ec322f0a1003a5c075fac3fa62be3c", "filename": "files/20151022_R42078_465a2dc051ec322f0a1003a5c075fac3fa62be3c.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R42078", "sha1": "b09864cadc9fc3fee697e90397b843dbeb162c0b", "filename": "files/20151022_R42078_b09864cadc9fc3fee697e90397b843dbeb162c0b.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc86587/", "id": "R42078_2012Jun01", "date": "2012-06-01", "retrieved": "2012-06-15T10:07:48", "title": "A Securities Transactions Tax: Brief Analytic Overview with Revenue Estimates", "summary": "This report briefly discusses recent STT (Securities Transactions Tax) proposals, summarizes the possible effects on financial market volatility and speculation, and provides estimates of the potential revenue effects.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20120601_R42078_6e8d9c628fe9f0e4215700c550e3356520efad6a.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20120601_R42078_6e8d9c628fe9f0e4215700c550e3356520efad6a.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Finance", "name": "Finance" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Securities", "name": "Securities" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Tax-exempt securities", "name": "Tax-exempt securities" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Economic Policy" ] }