Interestingly Sweden tried a 0.5% tax in 1984: > During the first week of the tax, the volume of bond trading fell by 85%, even though the tax rate on five-yea

Interestingly Sweden tried a 0.5% tax in 1984: > 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to say, 'tax avoidance' became the norm (especially since it was exceedingly easy to circumvent) and it was later repealed in 1991.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_tax http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_financial_transaction_t...