National Nurses United

���We���re here today because we have a concrete way of making a change and that is to tax Wall Street. It is time for Wall Street to start paying what all the rest of us pay. We want to use this money for good things, like jobs. WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL THIS TAX IS PASSED AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY ARE BACK ON THEIR FEET.��� their lives paying back. We will not stop until this tax is passed and the people of this country are back on their feet.��� NNU and other supporters want Congress to pass a small tax of 0.5 percent, or 50 cents for every $100, on trades of stocks, bonds, derivatives, and other financial instruments. The tax is targeted at corporate financial institutions, such as hedge funds and investment banks, and would minimally affect ordinary individual investors. The United States actually had such a tax from 1914 to 1966, and today a miniscule, obscure tax in fact funds the Securities and Exchange Commission. ���This is a kind of tax on trades that you and I don���t do,��� said David Hillman, coordinator of Stamp Out Poverty, a leading proponent in the United Kingdom of Robin Hood taxes. ���How many of you trade derivatives? How many of you trade bonds?��� The movement to pass a Robin Hood tax, also known as a financial transaction tax, is not limited to the United States, but is global. Hillman was one member of an international panel of Robin Hood tax proponents and RNs who spoke to NNU nurses during the assembly A P R I L | M AY 2 0 1 2 about how Robin Hood taxes could easily fund the huge need among the world���s working people for healthcare, education, jobs, and other basic human rights. Supporters of the tax include everyone from unions like NNU, to billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, to the Vatican. Currently, 40 countries already have implemented a Robin Hood tax, which shows the tax is feasible and works. Olida Ramos, an RN from Guatemala with the healthcare workers union SNTSG, talked about how about half of the children she and her coworkers see are undernourished or have learning problems; how nurses sometimes have 45 patients on one shift; and how many people scavenge garbage dumps for food. Ramos showed the nurses a photo of a newborn baby at a hospital sleeping in a cardboard box; they don���t have proper bassinets. A global Robin Hood tax could raise money for social programs and help each countries��� neediest citizens. Though Robin Hood tax supporters have been working for many years to promote this policy option, many of the speakers view 2011 W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N AT I O N A L N U R S E 15

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