Democrats in Congress would go further. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and Oregon Representative Peter DeFazio want a .03 percent tax on nearly every trade in nearly every market in the U.S
Politicians just have to get in and start pecking for some extra revenue and attempt to give the illusion that they're going to help.
> During the first week of the tax, the volume of bond trading fell by 85%, even though the tax rate on five-year bonds was only 0.003%. The volume of futures trading fell by 98% and the options trading market disappeared.
Needless to say, 'tax avoidance' became the norm (especially since it was exceedingly easy to circumvent) and it was later repealed in 1991.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_financial_transaction_t...
[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/andrew-clark-on-america/2...
Don't get me wrong, I tried my hand at some day trading a couple of years back and the HFTs helped to make it hard going. That was the problem with the business model I wanted to pursue at the time, though, not with the market itself.