Proudly claiming the legendary outlaw Robin Hood as their inspiration, liberal groups and past Occupy Wall Street supporters are pushing for a “Robin Hood Tax” on corporate transactions. George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, Bill Moyers’s Schumann Center for Media and Democracy and the liberal Tides Foundation and Proteus Fund have given over $4 million to organizations that support the tax, according to the official Robin Hood Tax website.
Support for The Robin Hood Tax has come from both Europe and the United States. Although they haven’t gotten specific about which corporate transactions would be taxed, advocates claim such a tax would raise hundreds of billions of dollars, which could then be used to promote social programs or climate change prevention initiatives. Many of its proponents also have ties to the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The site prominently lists George Soros as a supporter of the movement. His Open Society Foundation has contributed at least $3,279,000 since 2000 to official endorsing organizations of the tax. Soros cronies Jeffrey Sachs and Van Jones are on the same list, as are a number of other prominent lefties, such as Michael Moore, former vice president Al Gore, former governor Eliot Spitzer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
The media have, by and large, looked kindly on the Robin Hood Tax, as an almost miraculous source of money. ABC dubbed billionaire Warren Buffett (who also endorses the plan) as a “tax reform hero,” before pointing to Robin Hood as the ultimate tax hero, and praising the movement.CNN Money applauded the efforts of EU members to enact the tax in Europe, while a Bloombergpiece argued that revenue from the tax could help to stave off climate change.
Left-wing PBS host Bill Moyers promoted the tax on “Moyers & Company” in an interview with Rose Ann DeMoro in May of 2012. DeMoro is the director for National Nurses United, a conglomeration of nurses’ unions from across the country. DeMoro and her group are vocal supporters of the Robin Hood Tax.
Moyers gave no pretense of objectivity to the subject, praising the efforts on his program.
“Despite the unshakeable grip of the very rich and their mercenaries on both political parties, I’m always amazed that there are people out across America who still fight back. Who don’t give up, no matter what the odds,” Moyers said. According to him, the Robin Hood Tax was a prime example of this kind of fight.
Moyers has hosted “Moyers & Company,” which is distributed by American Public Media, since his return to the airwaves in January 2012. Moyers had a brief retirement beginning in 2010. But his profession has not kept him out of liberal politics. With the Schumann Center, he has funded more than a dozen other prominent lefty organizations and has given more than $10 million to liberal groups since 2000. Often, Moyers has had guests on his shows from groups which he himself funds.
By using his status as a trusted media veteran to push the agenda of groups that he funds is what the Society of Professional Journalists warns against – “conflicts of interest, real or perceived.” Meanwhile, he has accused news outlets on the right of being funded by wealthy donors, while he has been working at tax-payer funded PBS.
Moyers has also repeatedly promoted liberal causes, including Occupy Wall Street, on “Moyers and Company.” He even compared Occupiers to abolitionists and suffragettes. But when it comes to conservative groups, Moyers has attacked. He called the gun-rights group the National Rifle Association “the enabler of death – paranoid, delusional and as venomous as a scorpion. With the weak-kneed acquiescence of our politicians, the National Rifle Association has turned the Second Amendment of the Constitution into a cruel and deadly hoax.”
Liberal billionaire George Soros both endorses the Robin Hood Tax personally, and donates millions to organizations supporting it. Soros aids hundreds of left-wing groups in America each year under the auspices of his Open Society Foundations. In just 10 years, Soros has given more than $550 million to liberal organizations in the United States.
Soros’s Open Society Foundation had given a total of $3,229,379 to organizations supporting the Robin Hood Tax, between 2000 and 2010:
● 350.org ($8,900)
● Center for Health & Gender Equity ($30,000)
● Center for Media and Democracy ($200.000)
● Community Voices Heard ($75,000)
● Friends of the Earth ($50,000)
● Institute for Policy Studies ($335,000)
● Interfaith Work Justice ($50,000)
● National People’s Action (NPA) ($300,000)
● NEDAP ($114,800)
● Oxfam America ($6,000)
● Public Citizen ($277,151)
● Queers for Economic Justice ($60,000)
● Results ($147,028)
● Right to the City ($100,000)
● Treatment Action Group ($6,500)
● United States Student Association ($1,469,000)
Soros’s Open Society Fund was created in 1979 as a charitable lead trust. Even its creator admitted his motives were “basically selfish” and he wanted a “tax gimmick.” He did it as a “trust for his children.”
A Special Report from the Business and Media Institute showed how Soros has propped up liberal politicians for years in the United States, with more than $4 million in direct funding from him and his family. Well known for funneling millions of dollars to liberal groups in their attempt to destroy President George W. Bush in 2004, Soros has continued to give money to promote causes and politicians on the left.
The Tides Foundation donated $537,673 to groups supporting the tax in 2011 alone.
● ActionAid USA ($16,667)
● Alliance for a Just Society ($25,000)
● Consumer Watchdog ($230,000)
● Friends of the Earth ($86,339)
● Institute for Policy Studies ($93,000)
● Oxfam America ($86,667)
The Schumann Center for Media and Democracy, which Moyers heads, has also given $250,000 to the Center for Media and Democracy, which is one of the groups involved.
Similarly, the Proteus fund, another liberal foundation, gave $75,000 to the group Iraq Veterans against the War, which also supports the Robin Hood Tax.
Ironically, the legendary figure Robin Hood did not actually rob from the rich to give to the poor. Instead, according to the legend, he robbed from the government, led by the infamous Prince John, in order to return money extorted from the British people. History tells us that in 1215, English Barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta, a document outlining the basic rights of British subjects.
