1/4% Tax on all stock trades pushed in NY Times today
- Thread starter seasideheights
- Start date
I just spoke to a friend of mine in Europe who's watching this closely. His understanding is that stock/futures/options/currency transactions by individuals and small businesses would be subject to the FTT. Bank loans, mortgages, insurance contracts, etc. would be exempt from the FTT.
That is the way I am hearing it put also. It will be interesting to see what sort of news we get out of the EU Finmin's meeting this week.
-Guru
An FTT in Europe is the first item on the agenda at Tuesday's ECOFIN meeting. It should therefore start from 10:00am CET tomorrow
It is listed on the agenda as "Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) - State of play".
There will be a live TV stream of the meeting here:
http://video.consilium.europa.eu/webcast.aspx?ticket=775-979-11010
It is listed on the agenda as "Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) - State of play".
There will be a live TV stream of the meeting here:
http://video.consilium.europa.eu/webcast.aspx?ticket=775-979-11010
Wow first item on the agenda. Don't they have more important pressing issues to discuss (LOL). Maybe it's actually good that it's first on the list so they can quickly dismiss it as a viable option
-Guru
Quote from listedguru:
Wow first item on the agenda. Don't they have more important pressing issues to discuss (LOL). Maybe it's actually good that it's first on the list so they can quickly dismiss it as a viable option
-Guru
It will be interesting to see if the Netherlands takes a stand at this ECOFIN meeting. Two Dutch government reports have come out in the last few months that were negative on the FTT (one report called the FTT a "bad idea" and the other said the FTT would cause a "negative impact on the economy"). Unfortunately, the Dutch government remains officially silent on the issue.
What the Netherlands does is important because Britain and Sweden have made it clear they won't support an EU-27-FTT. So now Germany and France are going to push hard for an EZ-17-FTT. EZ countries against the FTT need to stand up and be counted.
So far, Malta, Cypress and Ireland are the only EZ countries that have said no to the tax. The Netherlands could significantly bolster the anti-EZ-FTT position and form a regional block of Northern European countries (Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands) against the tax.
Very good points here. I also hope some of these more silent countries let their position be known. It would seem that the ftt debate is really coming to a head here so it's time for everyone to show us their cards so to speak.
-Guru
I'm kind a sorry, but I'm having a darn hard time to see why FTT would be such a disaster 
I've read that Obama only would tax the major banks leaving out individuals and other small private owned investment companies.
Here in Denmark where I live are the Prime Minister still against the tax, but with good reasons as the proposed tax in EU will punish all minor as well as major players and not only the big banks that is the root cause of the financial crisis.
Sarkozy is going to launch the FTT in France beginning in Augus, no matter what the EU's decisions are.
I've read that Obama only would tax the major banks leaving out individuals and other small private owned investment companies.
Here in Denmark where I live are the Prime Minister still against the tax, but with good reasons as the proposed tax in EU will punish all minor as well as major players and not only the big banks that is the root cause of the financial crisis.
Sarkozy is going to launch the FTT in France beginning in Augus, no matter what the EU's decisions are.
Quote from januson:
I'm kind a sorry, but I'm having a darn hard time to see why FTT would be such a disaster
I've read that Obama only would tax the major banks leaving out individuals and other small private owned investment companies.
Here in Denmark where I live are the Prime Minister still against the tax, but with good reasons as the proposed tax in EU will punish all minor as well as major players and not only the big banks that is the root cause of the financial crisis.
Sarkozy is going to launch the FTT in France beginning in Augus, no matter what the EU's decisions are.
The Obama administration is against the FTT for the same reason as Denmark. At the 2011 G20 meeting in Cannes, Lael Brainard, US Treasury Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, said: âWe're very much in sync with Europe on their goal of ensuring that large financial institutions bear their fair share of the burden, but the US-proposed 'responsibility fee' would better deter the kind of risky behavior that led to the crisis as well as ensure that large financial institutions and not retail investors bear the burden."
The US-proposed "responsibility fee" is similar to the direct bank taxes proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF is also against the FTT. Their study of the FTT study concluded that â... real burden may fall largely on final consumers rather than, as often seems to be supposed, earnings in the financial sector.â
The responsibility fee is based upon bank profits, executive compensation and risk/leverage.