Tobin tax back on the agenda

In a rather surprising development the infamous "Tobin tax", which Gordon Brown has been pushing so heavily over the last few days is gaining support in the city of London. Well-known, and often controversial, financier Terry Smith, Sir Philip Hampton (the chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland) and the new Lord Mayor of London are said to be in favour of a "contract with society".As we have mentioned on numerous occasions, the Tobin tax is levied on the banking system, the proceeds from which will be reinvested into more needy areas of the worldwide economy reducing poverty and the effect of other social issues. Despite the fact that the US government, and other leading governments around the world, have effectively killed the issue dead on a worldwide basis, it looks as though the UK government is looking to push ahead in the UK. But is this really viable?More and more people believe this is nothing but a publicity stunt by the UK government as it looks to "be seen doing the right thing" with regards to the UK population. While there are now three prominent figures potentially supporting issue, there are many more prominent figures that are dead set against the introduction of the Tobin tax.