Please Stop Calling Them ‘Robin Hood’ Taxes

By Amelia Hamilton Published on May 21, 2015

It happened again yesterday. A tweet came across my timeline about a so-called Robin Hood tax. These come up every now and again, a tax designed to redistribute wealth by “stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.” The problem with what passes for a Robin Hood tax is that they are based on a complete misreading of the story. A tax based on the actual story? That, I can get behind.

While “steal from the rich and give to the poor” is a catchy left-wing slogan, it misrepresents the story of Robin Hood. If people actually took the time to read the story (or watch a movie version, or Google the basic story, or think about it at all), they would see that this really isn’t what our swashbuckling hero Robin Hood actually did. Living under an oppressive government, the people in the tale were robbed by those in power. Robin Hood does not so much steal as he takes back the money and other goods that were forcibly extracted from the people, and gives it back to those who earned it. Now we’re talking.

A real Robin Hood tax would have nothing to do with the redistribution of wealth from those who earned it to those who did not. It would involve taxing politicians who had grown rich off corrupt, high-tax crony relationships. (If you’re thinking about the Clinton Foundation at the moment, take a gold star.) Or if that’s too much to expect, it might at least involve lowering taxes on hard-working business owners as a firm rebuke to the politicians who have grown comfortable thinking that the wealth of the people was theirs for the taking. It would mean that those who earn money keep the lion’s share of their money. It would mean empowering people to work and earn and not worry about doing too well for fear that the government will come and “ask them” for their “fair share.”

But the latest so-called Robin Hood proposal doesn’t return stolen wealth to regular folks. It’s just more of the same coercive attack on the wealth creators. Thus, one should hardly be surprised that Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist,” is behind it. This “Robin Hood Tax Act” would tax stock market transactions to make it possible for students to attend two years of college tuition-free. Of course, this would be terrible for the economy. As The Daily Caller noted, “If imposed uniformly, the Robin Hood tax would add $500 to the cost of each $100,000 in transactions for small-time investors and American retirees looking to create liquid assets.”

Tim Worstall rightly described the tax as “monstrously stupid” and added, “There has to be some reason why the hippies keep pushing a tax idea that reduces net revenue raised and makes us all poorer to boot. Their not having a clue seems the politest, if not the most reasonable, explanation.”

Robin Hood is a cautionary tale against big government and aggressive taxation. It’s not an anti-prosperity or an anti-wealth story. In some tellings, Robin Hood himself is a nobleman who has been bankrupted due to his support of another king (for modern American readers, substitute that for “he voted for another candidate for president”). It’s a story of powerful people taking advantage of the citizens of all economic strata, driving them into poverty.

It’s ironic that this is just what such taxes would do. Those who support “Robin Hood Taxes” have it exactly backwards. These are really “Sheriff of Nottingham Taxes,” which would steal from citizens to line the coffers of those in power to distribute to those in favor as they see fit. Haven’t we had enough of that? When a Robin Hood Tax is proposed by somebody who actually understands the story, I’ll be ready to listen, and cheer.

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