Free Republic

EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta has cast doubt on reports that his Financial Transactions Tax (FTT), also known as the Tobin Tax, is being unraveled by member states. The Reuters news agency and the Wall Street Journal this week cited “senior EU officials” as saying some of the 11 countries set to take part are having second thoughts. Semeta’s original proposal envisaged a 0.1 percent tax on share and bond trades and a 0.01 percent levy on derivatives trading from 1 January, designed to take €35 billion ($45 billion) out of the pockets of banks and traders into national treasuries....

The much vaunted EU financial transaction tax (FTT) is set to be hard-wired into the EU budget, with most of its revenue going directly to the EU.A paper prepared by EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy and sent to European capitals ahead of next week’s EU budget summit, where leaders aim to agree a mandate on the budget framework for 2014-2020, would deduct FTT revenues from national contributions to the annual EU pot. Van Rompuy put forward his ideas after private talks with EU countries’ budget sherpas over the past 10 days. He has proposed a cut of €75 billion...

A threshold-breaking eleven member states have agreed to push ahead with a financial transactions tax, but the political breakthrough is tempered by a number of unanswered questions. "Today we have received a clear and very welcome signal that there will be enough member states on board for an EU Financial Transactions Tax," EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta said Tuesday (9 October). He promised to come forward with a decision in November, but noted that at least nine countries have to formally make a request in order to trigger a legislative process for a splinter group of member states. So far,...

France and Germany still need the backing of a number of member states to put in place a European Union financial transaction tax (FTT), despite claims from French President François Hollande that the tax is "now effective", EurActiv.fr reports. For over a year now, Paris and Berlin have been battling to persuade their European partners to put in place a FTT. … A working group, launched by Germany and France in March 2012, continues to discuss the proposal. Poland and Austria say they will take part in the project. To form a robust cooperation agreement, a minimum of nine countries...

Member states will pay 50 percent less into the general EU budget by 2020 if they agree to implement a financial transactions tax (FTT), the EU commission said Thursday (22 March). In a last-ditch attempt to undermine government opposition to both this specific 'Robin Hood' levy and the general idea of Brussels raising taxes, EU budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski put some concrete savings figures on the table. By the commission's estimate, Germany would pay €10.7 billion less to the EU budget by 2020, Poland €1.8 billion, Italy €6.4 billion and Latvia €81 million. The UK, the Netherlands and Sweden—the strongest...

The European Commission has defended its proposal to introduce a financial transaction tax (FTT), saying that it could substantially reduce member states' contributions to the EU budget. José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, said today (22 March) that the use of an FTT to finance part of the EU budget would give the EU the funds it needed to pay for priority programs on jobs and growth.He told a conference of MEPs and national parliamentarians from across the EU in Brussels that if the EU's budget was funded by an FTT, it would cut national contributions by half. …...

EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday (13 March) asked the Danish presidency to consider compromise alternatives to the financial transaction tax (FTT) after a number of countries voiced concerns about the proposal. Nine countries—France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Finland and Greece—signed a letter to Denmark on 7 February calling for progress on the introduction of a FTT before the end of its EU Council presidency. The UK and Sweden oppose a FTT, also referred to as a ‘Tobin tax’, but some other member states positions’ remained unclear until yesterday’s meeting. The finance ministers of the Czech Republic,...

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Sunday he would block any attempt to introduce an EU-wide financial transaction tax because he fears it will harm jobs and prosperity in Europe. Cameron said countries such as France pushing for the introduction of such a levy were welcome to go ahead and introduce it within their own borders. But implementing a tax in the European Union when countries in the rest of the world were not bound by it would have a negative effect on jobs and prosperity in Europe, he said. "If the French themselves want to go ahead with a...

BRUSSELS—A junior minister in the French government has predicted there will be an EU financial transactions tax by the end of 2012 in remarks likely to annoy fellow EU countries on many levels. EU affairs minister Jean Leonetti spoke out on the subject on the French LCI news channel on Wednesday (4 December), saying: "It's on the agenda of the next EU summit, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel have decided it and it will be put in place before the end of 2012." … The European Commission last September put out detailed proposals on a tax designed to capture €57...

Occupy’s busting out on a new path … So Adbusters is asking people all around the world to march on Oct. 29. “We want to send a clear message that we the people want to slow down this global casino.” And Adbusters does have one specific demand, a 1 percent tax on financial-sector transactions. Some form of that idea, known as the “Robin Hood” tax. Dominant Social Theme: We want justice for the world and the UN will give it to us. Free-Market Analysis: Kalle Lasn, founder of Adbusters magazine, based in Vancouver, B.C. – the magazine that issued the...