Katrina vanden Heuvel blogged recently about a piece of unadulterated good news: At a meeting of European Union finance ministers last week, eleven European Countries agreed to support a financial transaction tax. Such an act could raise revenue to avert austerity, while discouraging speculation to avert the next Wall Street-induced disaster.

Now, it’s high time that US progressives take heed, and draw inspiration from Europe's impending common sense reform. A Robin Hood-type tax has been proposed in the United States by Representative Keith Ellison and is known as the “Inclusive Prosperity Act.” Implore your elected reps to support Ellison’s legislation. After weighing in, share this post with friends, family and your Facebook and Twitter communities.

This extensive fact-sheet prepared by the Congressional Progressive Caucus shows how this tiny proposed tax of less than half of 1 percent on Wall Street transactions can generate hundreds of billions of dollars each year—enough to protect American schools, housing and hospitals.

This simple video makes clear how the Robin Hood tax could help save and improve the US social safety net while at the same time helping kickstart the economy.

 

 

A weekly guide to meaningful action, this blog connects readers with resources to channel the outrage so many feel after reading about abuses of power and privilege. Far from a comprehensive digest of all worthy groups working on behalf of the social good, Take Action seeks to shine a bright light on one concrete step that Nation readers can take each week. To broaden the conversation, we’ll publish a weekly follow-up post detailing the response and featuring additional campaigns and initiatives that we hope readers will check out. Toward that end, please use the comments field to give us ideas. With your help, we can make real change.