Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is proposing a "financial transaction tax" on "each Wall Street trade" following the controversy over the dramatic rise of GameStop's share price last week, Fox Business reports.
GameStop’s shares surged in the last week of January, going from $19 at the start of the month to as high as $483, after users on the Reddit subforum “Wallstreetbets” coordinated to bet on share prices rising, which prompted TD Ameritrade and Robinhood to place restrictions on trading video game retailer and caused short-sellers on Wall Street to lose billions.
“Wall Street has made billions on the back of the worst recession since the Great Depression, and fought to deregulate finance to pre-2008 levels,” Omar tweeted last Thursday. “And the moment regular folks beat them at their own rigged game, it's ‘SHUT IT DOWN.’ How about this: financial transaction tax. Now.”
She added, “A small tax - 0.1% - on each Wall Street trade would reduce high frequency trading, a practice which drains profits from retail investors and benefits only the very rich. We could use the close to $1 trillion it would generate to cancel all student debt and make college free.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement on Friday that it plans “act to protect retail investors when the facts demonstrate abusive or manipulative trading activity that is prohibited by the federal securities laws.”
It also said that “The Commission is working closely with our regulatory partners, both across the government and at FINRA and other self-regulatory organizations, including the stock exchanges, to ensure that regulated entities uphold their obligations to protect investors and to identify and pursue potential wrongdoing.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.