Nurses Lead Lobbying For 'Robin Hood Tax'
Friday, November 1, 2013(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Spurred on by
rousing speeches and favorable opinion polls,
National Nurses United delegates led hundreds
of activists into D.C. this week
to lobby for a tax on financial transactions.
The “Robin Hood Tax” would impose
a tiny tax on each financial transaction –
the buying and selling of stocks,
bonds, derivatives and other financial
instruments – and raise some $350
billion yearly that could be redirected to
human needs. “The Robin Hood Tax is
badly needed to secure new revenues to meet the
vast unmet human needs of
people struggling in this country and around
the world,” said NNU Political
Director Ken Zinn. “Health care, housing,
food stamps, Social Security, mass
transit, infrastructure development, new
construction and manufacturing jobs
and much more could get funded by a very small
tax on Wall Street. We are
excited to see that this movement is gaining
ground not only in the US but
around the world.” The nurses and their
allies marched down Constitution Avenue
on Wednesday following a day-long planning
conference, then hit Capitol Hill to
campaign for the tax, which has been endorsed
by the Metro Washington Council,
as well as the Amalgamated Transit Union, the
Coalition of Labor Union Women,
CWA, APWU, IAM, UAW, the Chicago Federation of
Labor and more. - includes
reporting by Press Associates; photo courtesy
NNU