"The Commissioner stated that the EC believes a financial transaction tax system is the most promising avenue for a new tax revenue source in the European Union. The meeting was expected to make progress towards deciding the types of transactions which would subject to the new tax, and the liability balance between the parties participant in the selected transactions."
Wow - what happened to waiting for the impact study that the commission is supposed to produce this summer? Sounds to me like their minds are made up. Gee I wonder what flavor of tax the study is going to highlight (LOL)?
I still highly doubt they would ever get the entire EU onboard with a FTT (let alone the G20) so hold all the meetings you want and waste everybody's time
And just last week I read quotes from Semeta saying that a FAT tax would be most appropriate in the EU as it's less likely to be passed onto the consumer, etc. This guy changes his mind more than a woman
http://www.akeuropa.eu/en/news-full.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=859&vID=37
"Afterwards he repeated what the Commission had already presented in a Communication in autumn: according to its analyses, a Financial Activities Tax is a more promising option than the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax, as such a tax would fulfil the criteria mentioned above and guarantee stability. This had been confirmed by the IMF and numerous scientific studies. Based on a maximum tax rate of 5 %, calculations indicate that the 27 Member States could generate an income of ⬠25 billion."
"One would now wait for an impact assessment, which would scrutinise the cumulative impact of regulations, bank levy and taxation on financial institutions."
"Å emeta replied that the introduced instruments would concern completely different taxation based on different objectives. Concerning the taxation of the financial sector, the objective would be to close a tax loophole; the current analyses would indicate that a taxation of financial activities should be preferred over a Financial Transaction Tax. It was for example easier to prevent that the tax from being passed on to the end consumer."
-Guru