Hi Andy, Having observed the sometime debate on HC between...

Hi Andy,

Having observed the sometime debate on HC between yourself, Naish and others I agree it does rankle...and/but the last people I would expect to do anything about it would be ASIC.

Pressure on the pollies, (legislators), and it would have to be sustained I reckon, could work if they saw it as an avenue for themselves to raise revenue.

I was interested to read an article on Morningstar entitled "Way out for debt-stricken governments", in which a number of options where propounded, and the example given of Italy taxing high frequency trading.

Excerpt below;

"Eurozone countries favour introducing financial transaction taxes, an attempt to plug budget holes that has the political advantage of being spun as a way to regulate markets and curb high-speed trading.

France introduced such a tax in August 2012 while Italy imposed a levy on equity and derivative transactions in March and introduced a tax on high-speed trading in August."

I thought the key word above was "curb" , and I would be interested in stats if available showing any impact in those markets where a tax has been levied for some time.

As in all things, be wary (imo), if implemented here it might come back to bite, with a broader range of tax on ALL our transactions...