UK MPs urged to back "Robin Hood tax" on banks

I really like this story published in Yahoo! yesterday, I think it's a campaign that we should all support:

(Quote)
Charities, campaign groups and unions have called on politicians to back a "Robin Hood tax" on banks' financial transactions to raise billions of pounds to fight poverty, climate change and protect public services.

The groups claim the global tax would help tackle the "human damage" caused by the global recession.

To mark the campaign a message was projected onto the Bank of England building which said:

"Be Part Of The World's Greatest Bank Job".

The campaigners say money raised from the tax would help avoid cuts in public services, meet the Government's target to end child poverty, protect schools and hospitals and encourage more people to find work.

In a letter to the major political parties the groups said: "You could ignore the big problems facing the world, and accept that climate change will stay unchecked, and that the poorest people at home and abroad will have a very hard time of it over the next decade. Or you can find all the money needed by directly taxing the British public themselves.

"Or you can work to find an innovative, modern, regular way of accumulating a fund of money to deal with big issues boldly. We would ask you seriously to consider the Robin Hood Tax as that radical new option - a small tax on bankers that would make a huge difference to the UK, to the poorest countries and to our planet. Let's turn the crisis for the banks into an opportunity for Britain and the world."
(End quote)

I couldn't agree more - what a brilliant idea! Show your support for this excellent campaign by linking to this blog post (URL = http://innsp.blogspot.com/2010/02/uk-mps-urged-to-back-robin-hood-tax-on.html ), and by blogging and tweeting this story yourselves.