Want to know more about the FTT? Read the Halifax Initiative Newsletter (January 2010)
JUST THE FACTS  - Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) - What? Who? Why? How?

See who has already signed on to a previous international version of this statement. 

The Honourable James M. Flaherty
Minister of Finance
Department of Finance Canada
140 O'Connor Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G5

Dear Minister Flaherty,

As economists from across the world, we call on you to implement a financial transaction tax (FTT).

This tax is an idea that has come of age. The financial crisis has shown us the dangers of unregulated finance, and the link between the financial sector and society has been broken. It is time to fix this link and for the financial sector to give something back to society.

Even at very low rates of 0.05% or less, this tax could raise hundreds of billions of dollars annually and calm excessive speculation. The UK already levies a tax on share transactions of 0.5%, or ten times this rate, without unduly impacting on the competitiveness of the City of London.

This money is urgently needed. The crises of poverty and of climate change require an historic transfer of billions of dollars from the rich world to the poor world, and this tax would offer a clear way to help fund this. Given the automation of payments, this tax is technically feasible. It is morally right. We call on you to implement it as a matter of urgency.

Sincerely,

Abdella Abdou, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Brandon University, Manitoba
Alan Freeman, Chairman of the Association of Heterodox Economists, University of Manitoba
Andrew Jackson, Chief Economist, Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Dr., Anthony Myatt, Professor of Economics, University of New Brunswick
Prof. Ardeshir Sepehri, Professor of Economics, University of Manitoba
Prof. Brenda Spotton Visano, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, York University
Dr. C.P. Barrington-Leigh, , Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
Dr. Christopher, CIFAR Postdoctoral fellow, UBC
Mr. David Cavett-Goodwin, Policy Analyst, Social Planning Council of Winnipeg
Prof. Gerry Helleiner, Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, Distinguished Research Fellow, Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto
Prof. Henryk Flakierski, Professor and Economics and Social Science (Emeritus), York University
Dr. Jim Stanford, Economist, Canadian Auto Workers
Prof. Joan McFarland, Professor of Economics, St. Thomas University
Prof. John Loxley, Professor of Economics, University of Manitoba
John Stapleton, Principal, Open Policy
Dr. Justin Paulson, Asst. Professor, Sociology & Anthropology and Institute of Political Economy, Carleton University
Prof. Kari Polanyi Levitt, Emerita Professor of Economics, McGill University
Dr. Kim Jarvi, Senior Economist, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario
Prof. Louis Lefeber, Professor of Economics, York University
Mr. Marc Lee, Senior Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Prof. Mario Seccareccia, Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa
Prof. Martha MacDonald, Professor and Chair, Economics Department, Saint Mary's University
Prof. Mel Cross, President, Atlantic Canada Economics Association
Prof. Mel Watkins, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Toronto
Dr. Mustapha Ibn Boamah, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of New Brunswick
Dr. Patricia E. Perkins, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University
Ass. Prof., Paul Shaffer, Department of International Development Studies, Trent University
Dr. Ricardo Grinspun, Professor of Economics, York University
Prof. Rob Moir, Economics Faculty, University of New Brunswick
Prof. Robert Chernomas, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Manitoba
Prof., Roderick Hill, Economics Faculty, University of New Brunswick
Dr. Rodney Schmitt, Principal Researcher, Finance and Growth, North South Institute
Seth Klein, BC Director, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Prof. Sir Richard Jolly, Honorary Professor and Research Associate, Co-director, UN Intellectual History Project, former Assistant Secretary General of the UN
Stephen M. Law, Ex-president, Atlantic Canada Economics Association
Terry Heaps, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University
Dr. Trevor Harrison, Professor, University of Lethbridge

and...