Nurses Welcome New Bill, HR 1579, to Tax Wall Street Speculation

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- National Nurses United, the nation's largest nurses' organization, welcomed the re-introduction of a bill Wednesday to set a small tax on Wall Street speculation to raise critical funds for a real national economic recovery for the many communities left out in the aftermath of the financial collapse of 2008.

HR 1579, the Inclusive Prosperity Act, authored by Rep. Keith Ellison with a number of Congressional co-sponsors was inspired by the Robin Hood Tax Campaign, comprised of more than 140 endorsing organizations with millions in their ranks.

Next step for the Robin Hood campaign is a big Washington action Saturday, April 20, beginning with a noon rally at Farragut Square, near K Street NW and I Street, followed by a march past the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to the U.S. Treasury Department at 15^th and G streets. The rally is being live streamed at http://robinhoodtax.org/robinhood-live.

The action coincides with meetings of G-20 finance ministers in Washington. Dozens of countries, including 11 European nations and most of the world's largest economies, have adopted or already have a financial transaction tax in place.

With a tax of just 50 cents on every $100 of stock trades, and lesser fees on trades of other financial instruments, HR 1579 could raise hundreds of billions of dollars every year, producing revenue for good jobs, guaranteed healthcare for all, housing, tackling poverty, ending global HIV/AIDS, stemming climate change and other critical needs.

The bill, nurses say, would also reduce high-speed computer trading, avoid bubbles that destabilize markets and sideline capital, and lower costs of essentials, like fuel and food, whose price spikes are linked to speculative trading.

It targets the biggest speculators whose high stakes gambling led to the economic crisis. Households with adjusted gross incomes under $75,000 would be exempted. Few ordinary Americans would be affected. The top 1 percent own half the country's stocks, bonds and mutual funds. The bottom 50 percent own .5%, half of one percent, of all stocks, bonds and mutual funds.

"We are hearing about a recovery of vast riches on Wall Street, but what about Main Street?" said NNU Co-president Jean Ross, RN. "A Wall Street tax would create jobs and support a decent quality of life in the thousands of communities still struggling. It's the recovery we've been waiting for."

Ross added: "In the world beyond the Beltway, people are still hurting. What they care about is not the debt ceiling or the fiscal cliff or the budget deficit. What they care about is the job deficit, the health care deficit, the housing deficit, the retirement deficit.

"That's what nurses see every day—people in pain, because they can't afford to pay their medical bills while they may be working two jobs or not have any job, or have lost their homes and their health.

"We have diagnosed the illness, and have a care plan. That's why nurses for two years have been campaigning across the country for more revenue for our cities, our communities, our patients with a tax on Wall Street speculation.

"Nurses are united today behind Keith Ellison's HR 1579—a simple sales tax, like all the rest of America pays on our clothing, our utility bills, the common barometers of our every day life. Wall Street needs to pay too, to rebuild our nation," Ross said.

SOURCE National Nurses United