Wall Street Journal op-ed, Why Taxing Stock Trades Is a Really Bad Idea, by Donald L. Luskin & Chris Hynes:

The Democrat-dominated Congress has come up with a new way for President Obama to violate his campaign pledge to not raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000 per year. It's a tax on securities transactions—trading in stocks, options, futures and so on.

And why not single out trading for special taxation? We levy special taxes on tobacco, alcohol and other vices. Except that trading isn't a vice. The exchange and hedging of business interests is a virtuous—and utterly essential—activity in a free economy.