Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, has reignited the debate over the Tobin or 'Robin Hood' tax on financial transactions.

Writing in the Financial Times today Williams argues the 'far-reaching' move would be a good way to address the 'widespread exasperation with the financial establishment' that the protestors at St Paul's have tapped into.

His article follows a report last week from the Vatican which even more strongly endorsed the idea of a financial transaction tax.

As Williams points out the idea has also been supported by George Soros and Bill Gates, who, he says, 'cannot be written off as naive anti-capitalists'.

In theory a financial transaction tax is very attractive. Applied universally across all markets it could raise lots of money and avoid the danger of hurting one sector or jurisdiction more than another.

But how do you get to such an ideal position? The Tobin tax is a bit like nuclear disarmament. You want to get there, but do you go on your own and abandon the weapons unilaterally?

The City and the chancellor are aghast at the notion of London becoming uncompetitive versus other financial centres if such a tax was levied here first.

Unfortunately, the dangerous farce in the eurozone right now shows how difficult it is to coordinate such moves internationally.

The debate Williams and the demonstrators have started is a good one. But where do we go from here?

Where should we go from here? Hopefully nowhere.

Bob Bridges

Nice idea and maybe Bill Gates and The Sage of Omaha are right. But, as you say, like world-wide nuclear disarmament, it's extremely unlikely to happen.

Even if it did, it wouldn't solve the underlying problem which is that far too many people in the financial community misbehave and the shareholders, mostly institutions and fund managers, don't put a stop to it .

I think those shareholders are the only ones capable of solving the problem.

Mind you, if all of 'us' , including the politicians, behaved more sensibly, that would be a huge help!

I think a 'Tobin Tax' is a great idea but it must be unilateral, otherwise those with the tax will lose their financial markets to those without.
It ain't going to happen, and even if it does, someone will either break or bend the rules, with ensuing chaos.

Didn't Robin Hood hold wealthy Friars for ransome? That sounds about right, a surtax on religous land and property tax......