Executive Summary

A tax on financial transactions, or 'Tobin' tax, could protect superannuation investors, improve the operation of Australia’s capital markets and provide a source of tax revenue worth over $1 billion per year. 

Protecting investors

Australia’s super funds and retail investors are losing up to $2 billion per year due to practices such as high-frequency trading (HFT). HFT investors trade large volumes of assets at very high speeds, completing transactions in a fraction of a second. HFT traders are able to buy up the shares that normal investors have ordered, pushing up the price, before selling at the higher price to normal investors, who are unable to process their orders at such speeds.