Owen Tudor

The idea of a financial transactions tax is beginning to appear everywhere. In the last couple of days, Prime Minister Gordon Brown mentioned it today in his article on international development in the Independent; TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber mentioned it in his response to the news that JP Morgan was spending billions on bonuses; and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka mentioned it on Monday in his speech to the National Press Club.

These are all people who are already known to support the idea of a financial transactions tax, so it’s not news that they support it. What’s news is that the tax is becoming a commonplace idea, one that crops up again and again, whatever the issue under discussion. And that’s important – especially for an idea dismissed as pie-in-the-sky just a year ago.