Even though the Super Committee is stealing the limelight, this summer's debt ceiling deal didn't just create the deficit-cutting committee. It also forces both the House and the Senate to vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. On Nov. 18, House leadership brought an amendment to the floor, where it failed to get the two-thirds vote necessary to pass. However, the close House vote and the impending Senate vote mean that this is not the end of the balanced budget amendment.

In September, President Obama released a deficit reduction package for consideration by the congressional Super Committee that included a new tax reform recommendation regarding millionaires. Dubbed the "Buffett Rule," the proposal states, “No household making over $1 million annually should pay a smaller share of its income in taxes than middle-class families pay,” and it would address a long-standing disparity between the taxation of labor income and investment income. Indeed, going beyond the Buffett Rule and taxing capital income on par with labor income would not only bring in much needed revenue, it would help to reduce income inequality, a source of economic inefficiency.

The congressional Super Committee, tasked with forging a $1.2 trillion deficit reduction package by Thanksgiving, is currently deliberating on which revenues – if any – to raise and to include in its plan. With Wall Street at the center of the 2008 economic collapse, the committee should look to a pair of revenue options that would fulfill the dual roles of addressing risks to the economy posed by Wall Street and raising much needed revenue: a financial speculation tax and a financial crisis responsibility fee on large financial institutions.