Design 21: Social Design Network

On January 23, the European Union’s financeministers unanimously endorsed Financial Transaction Taxes (FTT) by giving a green light to 11 eurozone countries to impose a coordinated tax on financial transactions – an act filled with potential not just for national budgets, but overseas development assistance as well. Such taxes may or may not eventually cross the ocean to U.S. markets, but as the group of nations that include the eurozone’s four biggest economies (Germany, France, Italy and Spain) begin to negotiate the tax’s rate and design, policymakers should consider the possibility of using even a small percentage of the revenues gained to provide a new source of development finance–money that can change the world.