Taxing Stock Sales Will Hurt the Stock Markets

IBD ^ | 12/06/2012

[SeekAndFind]

Our ever-expanding government and its enablers will tax everything that moves - and everything else. Their newest idea - taxing stock sales - ultimately hurts not the rich, but those who seek jobs.

Democratic Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont, a senior member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's subcommittee on financial services, wants Uncle Sam to start taxing stock transactions.

Interviewed by disgraced ex-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer - also known as "Client No. 9" - about imposing "a tiny little tax when stocks are traded on Wall Street" to "raise a huge sum of money and it would get rid of some of the high-velocity trading that does harm to the markets anyway," Welch touted his bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., to tax stock sales.

But rather than emphasize soaking the rich, Welch claimed with a straight face his tax would be healthy for the stock market. "This hypertrading," Welch said, is "about market speculation. It has nothing to do with liquidities in the market." Therefore "we should have a very small, fractional transaction tax" to discourage computer-assisted high-speed stock transactions.

In fact, high-frequency trading, which constitutes about 60% of trading volumes in U.S. equities markets, is in today's high-tech age a vital tool ensuring liquidity.

[Sacajaweau]

Millions of "little guys" have stocks and many will take some of it when they reach retirement age.

One more turn of the screw.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

"You see those damn liberals on that hill?...Send them to hell!"

[KarlInOhio]

mposing "a tiny little tax when stocks are traded on Wall Street" to "raise a huge sum of money and it would get rid of some of the high-velocity trading that does harm to the markets anyway,"

First, all of the high speed trading can just as easily happen in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong or Shanghai as it does in New York. Unless all the governments of the world start taxing it, it will flow somewhere.

Next, I bet the Democrats will spend the money based on static analysis ($1 per share, 1 trillion shares traded, ca-ching! one trillion new dollars to spend) even when they are talking about reducing some of the trading. A lot of those trades are based on fraction of a cent differences in stock value. Charge a few cents per share tax and they all disappear in the US.

[zeestephen]

Re: “We should have a very small, fractional transaction tax to discourage computer-assisted high-speed stock transactions.”

Interesting.

When Democrats tax cigarettes or high velocity trading, people are expected do less of it.

But when Democrats increase taxes on America's most productive workers, Democrats expect those workers will produce as much or more than they did before the tax increase!

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I’d prefer a small, insignificant tax on Congresspeople every time they open their mouths as if they know what the hell they are talking about.

[Sarajevo]

When Democrats tax cigarettes or high velocity trading, people are expected do less of it.

Yes, but those same democrats don't like it when their revenue stream dries up because those taxes drove usage down.

[DarkWaters]

The flood gates have been blown off now that the Republican establishment has caved or perhaps that was the intent all along, the race is on to see who can tax the most, who can find the most cleaver tax, who can come up with a solution to keep spending into infinity. We are headed for total collapse at some point. Economic, moral, spiritual, sociological, you name it, it will happen at some point. Its going to be a total free-for-all for the reprobates of society.

[pepsionice]

I’d like to make a suggestion here.

Let’s start a reality show called “Real Americans”, and each week...introduce a family and their economic situation.

So we start with the Jones family who are in poverty, but seem to have a air conditioner unit, a 60-inch TV, and a fairly new $17k car.

Then we go onto the Johnson family, who are lower-middle-class but seem to own $120k in various stocks, and count on the dividend for their eventual retirement account. They also drive to Disney World each summer and spend $1500 on their vacation....mostly because of the Bush Tax Cuts.

I think if the public began to understand everyone around them...instead of letting the media lay out bogus stories...we might be all better off.