SB 105-14: Financial Transaction Tax Act (Passed)

[AGA]

This tax was an utter failure in Sweden and would bring the stock market down substantially. I strongly oppose this.

[AGA]

This bill would eliminate high-frequency trading, which plays an important role in helping stocks reach their most efficient market price. This would also lower the value of people's retirement accounts if they are invested in stocks, and the exemption in section IV creates a tax cliff that could cause people to avoid getting a raise in certain rare situations. How would section IV even be implemented if this isn't an income tax?

[AGA]

Senator WD has shown that most stocks are held by wealthy individuals, not that most people who own stock are wealthy. Considering that most Atlasian adults have own shares of some kind, it doesn't seem possible for the latter to be true. This bill would affect anyone with a retirement account that holds any of the financial instruments targeted by the bill, even if they don't pay the tax directly.

I am not against the idea of Section IV; I am just unsure of how it would be implemented. A much easier way to relieve the tax burden on the middle-class would be to make the first $X in transactions exempt from the tax. This would eliminate both the need for reporting income to a broker and the tax cliff. Therefore, I offer this amendment.

Section IV. Exemptions

The provisions of this act shall not apply to the first $10,000 worth of covered transactions made by an individual in any given year.individuals who’s income for the taxable year is $60,000 or less.

Section IV.V. Effective Date

The provisions of this act shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2021.

[AGA]

Nay