Professor David Camroux, referring to a Robin Hood tax, seems to be just another applicant to the position of a Sheriff of Nottingham.

Sir, here is David Camroux, an Associate Professor of Science Po, quoting Jean Baptiste Colbert in that “the art of taxation” is taxing so that it is least noticed; writing that the FTT proposed by the European Commission could raise about €30bn to €35bn annually; and indicating it as an amount “rather small in comparison to the revenue needs of the 11 European Governments concerned”, and still he has the gall to refer to it as a Robin Hood tax, “FTT a feather in the cap for the average taxpayer”. May 30.

Sincerely as far as I am concerned Mr. Camroux is clearly only showing credentials to apply for the position of a Sheriff of Nottingham.

Perhaps one day we will find FTT as uncontroversial as VAT Camroux writes. Indeed, but was that to happen, that would just mean another regressive feather plucked from the goose average-taxpayer and put in an average European Commission bureaucrat cap.

If Professor Camroux really wants to help the average taxpayer, then what he should do is to question the revenue needs of their respective governments.

PS. There was a time that the FTT could have been a Robin Hood tax. That was when it was seen as an instrument to obtain resources from rich countries so as to help poor countries. But that was, at least, a financial crisis ago.

The first step needed to stop global finance and local economies from disintegrating.

Sir, Howard Davies and Susan Lund write about the risks of “a system where nations rely on domestic capital formation and concentrate risk in local banking system”, "Three steps to stop global finance disintegration” March 21, 2013.

I disagree. The surreptitious global capital control system imposed by the Basel Committee, with their capital requirements based on perceived risk, concentrates bank exposures, everywhere, to what is perceived as “absolutely safe”. In other words it might be more correct to say “concentrate safety in local bank system”.

Even now, while Basel II is still in effect, a German bank can lend to a triple A rated borrower anywhere, holding only 1.6 percent in capital, meaning being able to leverage 62.5 to 1 its equity, while, if lending to a “risky” German small business or entrepreneur, it needs to hold 8 percent in capital, a leverage of 12.5 to 1. That makes it impossible for the banks to allocate resources efficiently in the real economy.

And so to me the most important step the banking system needs to take is to dismantle that odious Basel regulations which favor “The Infallible”, those already favored, and discriminate against “The Risky” those already being discriminated against. That, which can be done, will be no easy task as so many imbalances have already been built into the system.

But that most probably requires firing all current bank regulators who after more than five years since the mistake must have become apparent, are not recognizing it, and indeed, with Basel III and its liquidity requirements also much based on perceived risk, are digging us even deeper into the hole.