Congressman Introduces Stock Trading Sales Tax

Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., introduced a bill Wednesday that would establish a tax on the trading of stocks and other financial products.

The Inclusive Prosperity Act, billed as a "Wall Street sales tax," would impose a 0.5 percent sale tax on brokers carrying out trades on stocks, and a smaller amount on financial transactions, including the trading of bonds and derivatives.

"The American public provided hundreds of billions to bailout Wall Street during the global fiscal crisis, yet bore the brunt of the crisis with lost jobs and reduced household wealth," said Ellison in a press release. "This is a phenomenally wealthy nation, yet our tax and regulatory system allowed the financial titans to amass great riches while impoverishing the systems that enable inclusive prosperity. A financial transaction tax protects our financial markets from speculation and provides the revenue needed to invest in the education, health and communities of the American people."

This article originally appeared in American Banker.

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