Conceptually similar to the Tobin tax (which was proposed for foreign currency exchange only), it would affect a wider range of asset classes including the purchase and sale of bonds, commodities, mutual funds, stocks, unit-trusts, and derivatives such as futures and options.

A United-Kingdom-based global campaign for the Robin Hood tax was launched on 10 February 2010[1] and is being run by a coalition of over 50 charities and organisations, including Christian Aid, Comic Relief and UNICEF.

By autumn 2011 the Robin Hood campaign had gained considerable extra momentum and support from prominent opinion formers, with a proposal from the European Commission to implement an FTT tax at EU level set to enter the legislative pipeline.

In June 2023, the European Commission stated that 'the prospects of reaching an agreement' on the FTT, in the future were 'limited' adding there was 'little expectation that any proposal would be agreed in the short term.

The campaign is sponsored by various charities, aiming to raise money for International development, to tackle climate change and to protect public services.

[13] In an article co-authored by one of the campaign's most prominent advocates, Comic Relief founder Richard Curtis, it was suggested that approximately 50% of funds raised would be assigned to domestic use to protect public services and for governments to tackle poverty at home.

An early thrust of the 2010 campaign involved grass roots supporters being encouraged to lobby MPs and the British Treasury for an implementation of the Robin Hood tax to be announced unilaterally as part of the UK's 24 March 2010 Budget.

The British Chancellor refused to implement a Robin Hood tax, saying it would need to be co-ordinated internationally or else it would result in thousands of jobs being lost in the UK.

[21] Another theatre for the campaign is the European Parliament, where in March 2010 a resolution was passed calling for progress to be made in identifying ways to set up a "Robin Hood" type tax.

Prominent signatories include Jeffery Sachs; Nobel prize winners Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman; Harvard's Dani Rodrik and Cambridge's Ha-Joon Chang.

A copy of the letter was also sent to Bill Gates, who has been commissioned by G20 chair and French president Nicolas Sarkozy to investigate new ways of funding the development of low income countries.

[28][29] As part of his September State of the Union speech, President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso officially proposed an upgraded package of transaction taxes for adoption by the EU, now projected to raise up to €55bn ($75bn) per year.

Also in September, Bill Gates presented his preliminary findings to the 2011 IMF & World Bank meeting in support of the Robin Hood tax.

[33][34][35] Marches did not occur in all "occupied" cities, but events involving several hundred protesters did take place at locations including Washington DC, Vancouver and Edinburgh.

[37] In November, Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Canterbury, re-affirmed his support of the Robin Hood campaign with an article in the Financial Times, saying the Vatican's strong backing for a FTT was "probably the most far-reaching" of their recent statements on reforming the International monetary system.

[38][39] In November, Bill Gates presented his report to the 2011 G-20 Cannes summit, saying that a FTT tax could be an effective way to raise funds to tackle poverty in the developing world.

[41] As European Union members remain divided over the issue, advocates of the FTT have said it could be implemented only within the eurozone, excluding countries like Sweden and the United Kingdom.

In a meeting just prior to the 2012 G8 summit he advised that he intends to uphold his commitment, though David Cameron repeated that Britain would veto the tax if attempts were made to impose it across the EU.

The Robin Hood FTT variant is similar to the original Tobin tax proposal but would apply to a broader set of financial sector transactions.

[67] After the June 2010 G20 meeting of finance ministers in Busan, the G20 were no longer agreed even for the less radical global bank levy, with opposition led by Canada and Australia.

[69] Following on from the Pusan meeting but prior to the main 2010 G-20 Toronto summit, the European Union president Herman Van Rompuy announced that the EU had a common position in favour of both a Robin Hood style transaction tax and a bank levy which they would push for at the G20 gathering.

[72] According to the United States Chamber of Commerce, the tax could double the cost of certain financial transactions and could cause the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fall by 12.5%.

[74] Economics writer Tim Worstall has made similar arguments, stating the tax would ultimately be paid not by the banks but by ordinary consumers and workers.

For example, Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank, warned that in its current form the tax would harm Europe's repo market, with knock on effects to the real economy as some firms would likely find themselves less able to borrow.

[46][76] If implemented just at EU level rather than globally, critics have stated the negative consequences would be felt disproportionately in Britain, with economists such as Tim Congdon estimating an FTT could result in over 100,000 job losses from London's financial sector.

Another survey published earlier by YouGov suggested that more than four out of five people in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy thought the financial sector has a responsibility to help repair the damage caused by the economic crisis.