If you could have a law pertaining to the finance industry repealed, which are you hatcheting?
I have an assignment to write a paper on a law that should be repealed, so I was wondering if you guys had any good ones in mind. I would prefer laws regarding finance. Many thanks and best regards.
Taxes.
That would have to be FATCA, a tax law that was attached with a jobs bill and doesn't do what it was sold as doing. One of the huge issues with it are people who were born in the US, then moved to Canada as children (or anywhere else for that matter). Even though those people are living as, say, Canadian citizens, and paying Canadian taxes, the US still considers them US citizens due to their birth in the US. Their Canadian wages are taxable in the US. Even if people don't realize that they are US citizens, they are still liable for the tax penalties. It's a legal nightmare that many congressional representatives in the US are trying to get rid of, and many countries are pissed off about. Most countries have Residency Based Taxation and only tax those living within their borders, not citizens living abroad. But the US won't tax illegals living here, and instead goes after people that don't even realize they are US citizens. It's an amazing convoluted nightmare...
It also is a major disincentive for Americans to work overseas (eg Hong Kong (15% local tax rate) or Singapore (17% local tax rate). A problem for overseas offices hiring Americans - why gross up an American's salary so they get the same take home pay as a Brit or Australians unless you really need to hire an American?
Americans are already god awfully insular. FACTA makes it worse.
Sexual Harassment laws
If there is a financial sector law that requires Americans to use check books, repeal that dumb fuckery.
Every other country stopped using check books 10/15 years ago and shifted to online transfers.
Writing a check every month for my rent feels incredibly primitive.
Insider trading laws and bribery laws. Why should I be punished for being able to bribe people for inside information?
I change my answer from fatca to insider trading.
Dodd-Frank. An entirely honerous set of rules written by politicians who can't tell their dicks from a DCF model and based on false premises about what caused the financial crisis.
Probably exceed the word limit for an assignment trying to explain all that though.
FACTA is a great one - or the equivalent law applied to companies, the US should really move to a territorial tax system
I'm not defending Frank at all, I don't like him, but I remember reading an article interviewing Hank Paulson shortly after the crisis and he said that although he didn't agree with Frank on nearly anything, he was one of the few members of Congress who really understood the financial markets. Like I said, I not defending him at all.
If I could repeal one law: homicide. With that quiver in my fold I'd be able to change a lot of the other laws I don't like.
Insider trading laws distrort the price system, see the insightful work of H. Manne.
Speed limits
I would repeal insider trading laws, since it would reduce distortion when it comes to pricing and let the markets run more effectively. I don't know why everyone thinks it's some heinous, dirty thing. Since markets work best when things are price correctly, when a company is cooking its books, the company ought' to have its stock market price, in some way, reflect that fraud. Because, if insider trading was legal, the company stock would be affected when people within the company, who know of the fraud, make decisions about the company. Except it can just keep to itself since insider trading isn't allowed, and the prices are thus distorted in such an instance. So insider trading also actually helps hold fraudulent businesses accountable.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YpuRcmPnSTM/hqdefault.jpg
LOL my exact response
Lulz. Got your back bro...
Insider trading is also fantastic for helping the wealthy and powerful stay that way when they're willing to cut corners. Can't imagine why the hoi polloi don't like it.
I'd repeal Dodd-Frank and replace it with Glass-Steagall.
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