Finance Reform

WHEREAS, we have not forgotten the lessons of the 2008 Wall Street financial crisis that created the worst economic recession since the Great Depression, which is why we supported the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that was designed to curb abusive and speculative activity by Wall Street; and

WHEREAS, excessive speculation in the financial markets continues to impede a broad-based prosperity that depends on long-term investment, not risky, high-speed trading and the casino-capitalism that has become too prevalent in our capital markets; and

WHEREAS, restructuring and downsizing the largest Wall Street financial institutions – finally breaking up the “too-big-too-fail” banks – will benefit the middle class and help reverse the corporate agenda that has increased income inequality; and

WHEREAS, executive compensation has been skyrocketing for a decade and is a symptom and important metric of income inequality; and

WHEREAS, new revenues from progressive tax and finance reform will allow America to pay for the infrastructure investments that will translate into good jobs and higher wages.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED at this 29th International Convention that we call on Congress to close the carried interest loophole, whereby hedge fund and private equity managers are taxed at a lower rate (the capital gains rather than ordinary income rate) on profits generated by the investments that they manage of other peoples’ money; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED we call on Congress to close the performance pay loophole and put an end to unlimited tax write-offs on performance-based executive pay; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED we support a small tax on sales of stocks, bonds and complex financial instruments that will provide a new revenue stream for infrastructure projects or other labor priorities while discouraging the high-speed speculative trading that contributed to the financial crisis; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED we call on Congress to enact a new Glass-Steagall Act to reestablish the bankers’ proper role in our economy and end our country’s disastrous experiment with financial deregulation, which has resulted in historic income inequality and stagnant economic growth, and return to the historically more stable separation of commercial banking from riskier investment and trading business; and

FINALLY, BE IT RESOLVED that we will continue to advocate, both individually and in coalition, to protect the systemic improvements that are a legacy of Dodd-Frank.