NDP MP Lorne Nystrom has introduced a motion in Parliament, M-239, that urges the Government of Canada to implement a Tobin Tax. That motion will be voted on in February, 1999 George Soros indicates below that a Tobin Tax may not be effective. ================================== Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 19:05:31 -0500 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: paul rodgers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Tobin Tax Canada Feb 1999 (fwd) Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 09:00:44 -0500 (EST) From: Neva Goodwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Tobin Tax Canada Feb 1999 (fwd) To: Michael Gurstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> UN Reform <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, futurework <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> A comment on the Tobin tax, which I have always thought was a great idea, and I hope it still is -- but I was recently at a talk by George Soros in which someone asked him about this. He replied that he had intended to push it in his new book, but that, after looking into it, he concluded that it was no longer workable, because there are many novel forms of currency trading and international transactions -- through new instruments that have just been invented in the last few years -- and many of these cannot be monitored or controlled by governments. A Tobin tax, he said, would just create a perverse tax-avoidence incentive for people to do their transacting through these instruments. I don't know enough about financial markets to be able to assess this conclusion (I don't even know the names of many of these new instruments!) -- I'd be interested in reactions from those who are more up on this. I fear that Soros opinion is one that has to be taken pretty seriously; he's had more experience in these areas than almost anyone, and, though he certainly has mixed motives (the desire for profits continues to burn strong in him), I believe that his wish to contribute to a world of sanity and freedom is also strong. Neva Goodwin, Co-director Global Development And Enviroment Institute [EMAIL PROTECTED] web address: http://www.tufts.edu/gdae street address: G-DAE, Cabot Center Tufts University Medford, MA 02155 ............................................. Bob Olsen, Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED] .............................................