bubble which, in part, triggered the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Nevertheless, he sees an FTT as important for bringing a more equitable balance to the taxation of all parts of the economy. Less susceptible to tax evasion than alternatives According to some economists, a financial transaction tax is less susceptible to tax avoidance and tax evasion than other types of taxes proposed for the financial sector. The Automated Payment Transaction tax (APT tax) employs 21st century technology for automatically assessing and collecting taxes when transactions are settled through the electronic technology of the banking payments system. Joseph Stiglitz, former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank affirmed the "technical feasibility" of the tax. Although Tobin said his tax idea was unfeasible in practice, Stiglitz noted that modern technology meant that was no longer the case and said that the tax is "much more feasible today" than a few decades ago, when Tobin disagreed. Fraser Reilly-King of Halifax Initiative also points out that the key issue and advantage of an FTT is its relatively superior functional ability to prevent tax evasion in the financial sector. Economist Rodney Schmidt, principal researcher of The North-South Institute, also concurred that a financial transaction tax is more technically feasible than the "bank tax" proposed by the IMF in 2010. Types Transaction taxes can be raised on the sale of specific financial assets, such as stock, bonds, or futures; they can be applied to currency exchange transactions, or they can be general taxes levied against a mix of different transactions. Securities transaction tax John Maynard Keynes was among the first proponents of a securities transaction tax. In 1936 he proposed that a small tax should be levied on dealings on Wall Street, in the United States, where he argued that excessive speculation by uninformed financial traders increased volatility. For Keynes, the key issue was the proportion of 'speculators' in the market, and his concern that, if left unchecked, these types of players would become too dominant. Keynes writes: "The introduction of a substantial Government transfer tax on all transactions might prove the most serviceable reform available, to mitigate the predominance of speculation over enterprise in the United States. (1936:159–60)" Currency transaction tax A currency transaction tax is a tax placed on a specific type of currency transaction for a specific purpose. This term has been most commonly associated with the financial sector, as