BostonHerald.com: A tax to expand
Your editorial, “Nursing a grudge” (Sept. 6), is misinformed about the economic issues involved in establishing a tax on all financial transactions — a “Wall Street tax” — as well as being demeaning of the important efforts of the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
The Wall Street tax is equivalent to a sales tax. Financiers pay no tax when they trade securities. Most of the money from this tax would come from wealthy people involved in financial market trading. The tax supported by the MNA would raise nationally $150 billion or more to support our teachers, police officers, firefighters and, yes, nurses, rather than seeing their wages cut and jobs lost through austerity programs. Countries throughout the world operate with the equivalent of Wall Street taxes. The nurses are correct that the U.S. economy would operate on a more stable and equitable foundation through implementing this tax.
— Robert Pollin
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