Congress eyes modest tax on Wall Street trading to fund public priorities
H.R. 4035 — Wall Street Tax Act of 2025 · Filed by Valerie Hoyle (D-OR) · 9 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 17, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill imposes a small tax on financial trading transactions—starting at 0.02% in 2026 and rising to 0.1% by 2030—on stocks, bonds, derivatives, and similar securities traded on U.S. exchanges or involving U.S. persons. The tax is collected by exchanges, brokers, or the parties to the transaction, depending on the type of trade. Revenue from the tax would go to the federal government.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is straightforward: a progressive tax on securities and derivatives trading. It is not disguised or misdirected; the title accurately reflects the substance.
What the text implies
- The tax may reduce market liquidity and increase bid-ask spreads, potentially raising costs for ordinary investors who trade less frequently but still participate in markets.
- High-frequency trading firms and market-makers may relocate operations or trading activity to non-U.S. exchanges to avoid the tax, reducing U.S. market competitiveness and tax revenue.
- The tax applies to derivatives, which are used by pension funds and insurance companies for hedging; these costs may be passed to beneficiaries and policyholders.
- Controlled foreign corporations are treated as U.S. persons for tax purposes, potentially affecting multinational firms' internal trading and hedging strategies.
Who it affects
The tax is designed to reduce high-frequency speculative trading, which can destabilize markets and harm ordinary investors, while generating federal revenue that could fund public services. The tax rate is modest (0.1% at full implementation) and primarily affects financial traders and institutions rather than long-term retail investors, whose trading frequency is much lower.
Who stands to gain
- U.S. federal government (revenue collection)
- Long-term retail investors (reduced high-frequency trading volatility)
- Pension funds and endowments (reduced market noise)
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), U.S. stock exchanges, Brokers, High-frequency trading firms, Derivatives traders, Controlled foreign corporations
Where it stands
9 cosponsors: 9 Democrats.
- Jun 17, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 17, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,366,377 in lobbying spend. A filing names 78 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.
Valerie Hoyle, the sponsor, reported $639,524 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Associated Builders and Contractors Inc — $700,000 on 1 filing
- American Federation of Teachers — $410,000 on 1 filing
- Associated General Contractors of America — $216,377 on 1 filing
- New Venture Fund — $40,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 6, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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