Gates will encourage countries to raise their foreign spending to 0.7 percent of GDP. Bill Gates aims for 'Robin Hood' tax

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates will tell the G20 Thursday that they could raise $48 billion to fight global poverty by levying a “Robin Hood” tax on the trading of bonds and shares.

Gates will talk about the transaction tax - dubbed by some as a “Robin Hood” tax - when he speaks before the G20 to deliver a report commissioned by French President Nicholas Sarkozy on international development, according to The Guardian.


“It is very plausible that certain kinds of FTTs [financial transaction taxes] could work. I am lending some credibility to that. This money could be well spent and make a difference. An FTT is more possible now than it was a year ago, but it won’t be at rates that magically raise gigantic sums of money,” Gates told the British newspaper.

Estimates are that the Robin Hood tax could bring in $50 billion a year.

The Microsoft founder will talk about the financial transaction tax even as it would be a hard sell for the U.K. and the United States. Gates will also mention tobacco taxes and taxes on shipping and aviation fuel as other ways to raise money for global development, says the Guardian.

In addition, Gates will encourage countries to raise their foreign spending to 0.7 percent of GDP, a United Nations target.

On Wednesday, consumer advocate Ralph Nader wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal advocating for a transaction tax. “The passage of such a tax would be a great start for our representatives in Congress to show that they’ve heard the message” of the Occupy Wall Street movement, said Nader.

Democratic members of Congress Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) have introduced legislation that levies a 0.03 percent transaction tax on the value of stocks, bonds and derivatives transactions. It is unlikely to pass a Republican House which is dead set against raising taxes.