We Need New Tax on Financial Craps

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/23-0

The economic crisis we’re enduring is extremely costly. America faces a critical choice: Who should pay the bill?

We can stick it to the poor by gutting our social-safety net. We can kick the can down the road by short-changing public education and infrastructure. Or we can find more equitable, forward-looking solutions.

One place to look for new revenue: the financial sector that got us into this mess in the first place. Wall Street is one of the most under-taxed sectors of our economy.

Think about the tax bills that ordinary Americans pay when they buy things they need every day. When they fill up their gasoline tanks so that they can get to work, they pay an average tax of 13.2 percent a gallon. When they buy a winter coat, they pay state sales tax of an average of 5.6 percent.

More at the link --