Robin Hood rides to France. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has followed through on his promise to put before parliament a financial transaction tax – calling it a “Robin Hood Tax” – of 0.1% on stock trades to commence in August, according to reports. Absent from the tax: bond sales. Sarkozy also proposed raising the basic consumption tax (VAT) by 1.6 percent, to 21.2 percent, and upping by 2 percentage points the taxes paid on financial profits. His proposed targets of new revenue: an increase in construction of low-income housing and creation of an “industry bank” to make cheaper loans to small and medium companies.