1/4% Tax on all stock trades pushed in NY Times today

Quote from Explorer:

It doesn't seem to fit with his earlier rejection of a stamp duty. According to this article, Germany is now working on a scaled down FTT.
http://www.banklupe.de/news/schaeub...fraktion-hochfrequenzhandel-regulieren-37667/
I read in another German piece (which I've lost unfortunately) that Schaeuble disliked stamp duty only on the grounds that it stood little more chance of passing than a full-blown FTT.

We could use more clarity.

I agree that we do need more clarity on this. I wonder what this scaled down ftt is? They really seem to be flailing around here thats for sure. How many times do they need to hear the word no?

-Guru
 
http://de.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idDEBEE82M08220120323



google translation (slightly adapted):


EU tax commissioner does not think much of a stamp duty

Berlin (Reuters) - EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta does not believe in the EU-wide introduction of stamp duty on the British model as an alternative to the controversial tax on financial transactions.

"I do not think, that the approach of a stamp tax may be a solution," Semeta said on Friday to journalists in Berlin. Such a tax would bring the EU much less than seven billion euros annually. This would be far less than the roughly 57 billion euros, the Commission calculated the revenue of a financial transaction tax. A fifth of them, about twelve billion euros, would contribute to the UK, according Semeta his important financial center of London - the most determined critics of the tax in the EU.

While Semeta, despite opposition from several EU countries, still cherishes the hope of being able to push through a tax on financial transactions in the EU, Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble is obviously thinking of alternatives already. He wanted to set in "for a possible equivalent alternative," he told the Southwest Radio (SWR), as the station announced on Friday in advance. The Minister brought an extended exchange tax in the game - "and if possible on a large scale." For the proposal of an extended stamp tax in the EU, has spoken Germany's Economics Minister and FDP leader Philipp Rösler as well as leading members of his party. It would be essentially a tax on shares and other traditional securities transactions on the exchange.

Commissioner Semeta maintains the financial transactions tax for a promising model in the EU. He reminded them that is discussed in the European Council for six months before it. "This is a very short time compared to other tax issues." You'll need to safely make any changes to counter the criticism and to reach a compromise. "I can not remember that ever a suggestion has been implemented as it was introduced," he said. Italy is one of the supporters of the tax Semeta. France would abandon its planned national approach in favor of Europe, once this is resolved.

Semeta also pointed to a new Commission proposal that should flow two-thirds of revenue from the financial control to the EU and a third to the member countries. In return, the payments from the member countries to the EU will be lowered by up to 50 percent. For Germany in 2020 that could mean more than ten billion euros in payments less to the EU than under the current system.
 

So from reading this it sounds like Schaueble is in favor of a stamp tax of some sort whereas Semeta is not? I have serious doubts that an EU or EZ stamp tax would be agreed upon. If it were modeled after Britain basically mom and pop pay it while the banks get a free pass.

This really doesn't make sense either though as earlier this week it appeared Schaueble was opposed to a stamp tax.

From the WSJ earlier this week:

Mr. Schäuble ruled out the idea of imposing a British-style stamp tax on stock purchases, but said Europe needed to find alternatives that included regulation of derivatives and high-frequency computer trading. "We will try to achieve what is possible," he said, according to the participant.

-Guru
 
"The Minister brought an extended exchange tax in the game"

Sounds like a cascading tax of one transaction creating multiple tax hits like FTT, since he doesn't want a UK stamp duty-style that has one hit.



"a tax on shares and other traditional securities"

The entire focus has been to tax investors, funds, traders, while calling it a bank tax.
 
Brussels offers UK 7.7bn to adopt controversial bank tax:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...UK-7.7bn-to-adopt-controversial-bank-tax.html

In a move that has astounded British MEPs, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the EC, announced that the levy could halve European Union members' contributions.

Mr Barroso has proposed that countries keep a third of the proceeds of the levy themselves and give two-thirds of it to Brussels. Europe's budget would become "self funding", Mr Barroso said, and would cut national contributions by a total of €54bn.

European officials, who backed Mr Barroso's proposal, believed the plans would be acceptable to Mr Cameron because Britain would be able to keep a third of the revenues for itself.
 
Malta could 'save' 27m in EU contribution with Tobin Tax, but stands to lose much more:

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/bus...illion-in-contributions-to-EU-budget-20120323

EC tells Maltese government to drop its opposition to the controversial financial transaction tax to ‘save’ up to €27 million in contributions to the EU budget.

The report - which has been presented to the Maltese government in an attempt to have the country soften its opposition to the tax which would significantly impact on its competitiveness in the financial services sector - proposes that two thirds of the revenues of the FTT go to the EU budget, reducing by the same amounts Member States' contributions based on their Gross National Income (GNI) with the remaining one third being retained by Member States.

But what the European Commission has not presented was the actual financial impact such a tax would have on the revenues for the Maltese government compared to the 'savings' made in its contribution to the European budget.
 
It sounds like the European Commission is really putting on the full court press here with the ftt. I just wish they would vote on the ftt already and put this issue to bed. It appears Germany threw in the towel on the ftt this week so I guess now it's just the EC and France. I did read in one article that the commission's 'new' impact study should be ready in the next few weeks and it's supposed to show that the ftt will not force companies to relocate. It will be very interesting to see how they massage the numbers from their first study.

-Guru
 
Interesting little snippet from this WSJ Piece:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304724404577297683219286666.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

In a press conference in Brussels Thursday, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said her government was speeding up discussions on the transactions tax. She confirmed it will be debated by EU finance ministers in Copenhagen next week.

Some diplomats believe the Commission is pressing the so-called "own resources" plan as a bargaining chip to trade in with the more powerful member states to prevent too austere an overall budget settlement.


So I guess the nine countries that wrote the letter calling for the ftt discussion to become accelerated are getting their wish? I mean how many times are they going to debate this issue. It seems like every week there's a new EU finance ministers meeting where they debate the ftt with the same old results. Just vote this thing down already and be done with it:)

-Guru
 
Quote from seasideheights:

Sachs not chosen.


Obama To Nominate Jim Yong Kim For World Bank Post

Jim Yong Kim is close friends with Bill Gates. I expect that he'll push hard for the FTT.
 
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