The Greens, under the leadership of Adam Bandt, will release today a proposal that would introduce a new profit tax on Australia’s four largest banks.

According to a report by the Australian Financial Review, this moves targets to help finance federal government aid using funds from Westpac, NAB, ANZ, CBA.

The said proposal is expected to be released by the Greens at an Australian Banker’s Association Forum that will be held in Sydney, making the case that banks should be financially responsible for government subsidies the sector receives.

Moreover, Bandt said that the proposal would also increase competition among the four major banks. Bandt accounted that the government’s support of the big banks, which was shown through discounted access to the wholesale funding guarantee scheme, combined with the “four pillars” policy, has reinforced the dominance of the big four lenders.

With the hope of using their influential role in parliament, the Greens are eyeing to prod the Labor government to reverse its position that the government would not be allowing any bank tax through a statement declared by Treasurer Wayne Swan in February.

Looking back, in the previous years, the notion of a bank tax has been considered by G20 leaders and was then proposed by the International Monetary Fund. Afterwards, it was discussed by Treasury officials during the last quarter of 2010. According to the reports from the AFR, the Greens will push for the issue to be debated at the tax forum scheduled for the month of October this year.