Robin Hood, nearing European victories, still struggling to awaken in the U.S.

Some FTT critics have suggested that these increased transaction costs would apply to a wider range of transactions than advertised, including bank accounts and car loans. “These [transactions] are exempt from the tax,” said DeFazio. “That’s just misleading.” (Other exclusions from coverage under the Harkin-DeFazio bill include notes, bonds, and similar instruments that have a fixed maturity of not more than 100 days, meaning that instruments like short-term Treasuries and commercial paper would not be subject to the tax.)

And all critics of an FTT, including Angel and R. Glenn Hubbard, dean of the Columbia Business School and an economic advisor to Mitt Romney, have said that the costs of the tax will be passed from brokers on to individual investors. They warn that the tax would pose a significant burden on average Americans.

It is true that increased transaction costs could be passed along to consumers. Using the Harkin-DeFazio rate of 0.03 percent, and assuming the consumer carried the full FTT cost, the Center for Economic and Policy Research calculated that a worker with $60,000 in her 401K would pay about $18 per year.

Put another way, there are a variety of investment strategies that don’t utilize high-frequency trading. If one such strategy currently yields 4 percent, that strategy would still yield 3.97 percent if there were an FTT and all costs were passed on to consumers. That’s because these other types of investments don’t rely on generating tiny margins for ultra-short holding periods — the tiny margins that would be wiped out or seriously impaired by an FTT.

Richard Bender, a senior legislative assistant to Sen. Harkin who helped draft the Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act, thinks this wouldn’t be overly burdensome on average investors. “You’re not going to act or not act based on those figures,” he said.

Brighter prospects in Europe

There are critics of an FTT in Europe, too, but such a tax seems on track to be enacted in several countries. Just last month at the latest EU summit, Angela Merkel, the conservative chancellor of Germany, led calls for a financial transaction tax across Europe. Newly elected French president François Hollande also urged fellow states to join. As a result, a growing group, led by Germany, France, Italy, and Spain — with the support of domestic liberal, center-right, and even far-right parties — could enact a financial transaction tax as early as next year.

Like the Harkin-DeFazio bill, the EU tax would cover stocks, bonds, and derivatives. The rate that is currently being discussed is 0.1 percent for stocks and bonds, and 0.01 for derivatives. The European Commission has estimated that if such an FTT were in place in all 27 member countries it would raise €57 billion annually, or almost $70 billion.

Merkel, Germany’s center-right chancellor, has said: “We all agree that a financial transaction tax would be the right signal to show that we have understood that financial markets have to contribute their share to the recovery of economies.”

And former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, another center-right politician, successfully pushed through an FTT in his country last spring. In an appearance on French television, he argued his case to the public. “What we want to do is provoke a shock, to set an example,” he stated. “There’s no reason why deregulated finance, which brought us to the current situation, can’t participate in the restoration of our accounts.” The Sarkozy transaction tax of 0.1 percent on stocks and derivatives (but not on bonds) will go into effect next month.

In the U.K., the Trades Union Congress (TUC), an umbrella organization for unions representing over six million workers, has put an FTT high on its list of priorities. As is true with other proponents, the TUC cites athe tax’s ability to raise revenues and curb excessive speculation. In addition, “There’s an economic reason for it,” explained Rob Holdsworth, spokesperson for the TUC. “One of the problems we’ve cited for a long time is that the financial sector in this country has moved from its core purpose,” Holdsworth said. “Banks used to serve the wider economy and create jobs. It’s moved from that model to one where the financial services sector serves itself,” he observed. “We need a financial sector that creates real jobs.”

The UTC is joined in its support of an FTT by religious groups, aid organizations, such as Oxfam, and prominent Labor Party politicians. The current head of the party, Ed Milliband, has spoken in favor of an FTT, as have more than 30 Labor members of parliament. Even so, the Labor Party has yet to issue an official endorsement of an FTT.

Stalled in the U.S.A.

On May 18, over a thousand nurses wearing bright red scrubs and Robin Hood hats rallied in downtown Chicago. Demanding a Robin Hood tax, their signs read “Heal America, Tax Wall Street” and “An Economy for the 99%.” The event was organized by National Nurses United, which represents over 170,000 nurses. Over the past year, the NNU has also held rallies at state capitals as well as the U.S. Treasury calling for an FTT. While the NNU is the most visibly active labor union in this drive, the AFL-CIO, of which it is a member, also supports an FTT.

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO president, has endorsed the Harkin-DeFazio bill and called for the U.S. to pass a tax “in line with what has been proposed in Europe,” referring to the 0.1 percent FTT.