The day before participants at demonstrations in Washington, D.C., Cannes, France, Los Angeles and San Francisco will call on Congress and global leaders to adopt a small “Robin Hood” tax (financial speculation tax) to create jobs, bills were introduced in the U.S. House and Senate to adopt such a tax.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced the Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act that would assess a financial speculation tax of .03 percent. The European Commission is proposing .10 percent, on trading in stocks and bonds. In a statement this afternoon, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who is in Cannes for the G-20 summit of the world’s top economies, says:

In order to maximize revenue and minimize opportunities for tax arbitrage, Congress should pass a U.S. financial speculation tax in line with what has been proposed in Europe.

Sen. Harkin and Rep. DeFazio are showing real leadership in introducing this important legislation that would help the 99 percent. America’s most urgent economic challenge is the jobs crisis and we must invest money today to create jobs and rebuild our broken economy. In the medium to long term, that money will have to be repaid, and it is only fair to ask Wall Street to pay for rebuilding the economy it helped destroy.

A well-designed tax that has greatest revenue-raising capacity would, says Trumka, “raise hundreds of billions of dollars over the 10-year budget window.”

Reckless Wall Street gambling has cost Americans trillions in lost wages, savings and household wealth. It is time to put Wall Street to work rebuilding Main Street with a financial speculation tax to create jobs, rein in speculation and lay the groundwork for long-term economic prosperity.