We, the undersigned investors, business owners and executives, call on the President and Congress to institute a modest federal tax on trades of stocks, futures, credit default swaps, and options. This modest levy would dampen speculation that threatens financial markets while also raising more than $150 billion annually in revenue for the US Treasury.
Over the last several of decades, the cost of trading has been lowered by increased competition between brokers and the use of technology to automate order processing. This has benefited all investors, but the lower trading costs have also opened the door to wide-spread speculative activity that erodes confidence in the stability of markets. Speculative trading now accounts for up to 70 percent of the trades in some markets. This is a threat to the interests of responsible investors.