The popularity of the tax (named for the late Nobel laureate economist James Tobin, for whom its aim was to reduce exchange-rate volatility in currency markets) reflects widespread animus directed at the financial sector, but it far exceeds any real benefits that the tax would deliver. Nonetheless, elected officials find a Tobin tax highly appealing, because it could blunt criticism and divert attention from fundamental, but politically paralyzing, problems surrounding economic policy, particularly budgets, debt, and slow growth.
这一税种（用已故诺贝尔经济学奖获得者詹姆斯·托宾的名字命名，他的初衷是减少货币市场上的汇率波动）大受支持反映了人们对金融部门的广泛敌意，但人们对其的支持度远远超过了该税种所能带来的好处。尽管如此，当选官员仍觉得托宾税具有相当大的吸引力，因为它能够让批评之声有所消停，还能把公众目光从经济政策（特别是预算、债务和增长疲软）等基本但又不具有政治可行性的问题上转移开去。