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

The following quote from another commentator under one of the articles expressed very succinctly my own thoughts:-

"Well, we all know this FTT proposal is daft - French banks, the national debt agency (which raises funds for the state) and money markets have issued a warning to their government that it will hit Paris to the tune of 70 billion euros a year, leading to the decimation of their finance industry, the collapse of the bond market and serious difficulties for the state in raising money.

The eurozone may well be shooting itself in the foot with this tax, but the whole point of it from the very outset is to destroy the City, or make the UK pay to bail out the eurozone. The architects of the FTT were quite open about theur intention of getting tens of billions of euros a year in direct tax from the UK - Barroso had some particularly choice comments to make.

But the Tobin Tax wouldn't fly and they have had to go ahead with a minority of EU members - but they still want to tax the UK. So they are trying to impose the impossible, with a completely untenable extra-territoriality clause.

I foesaw the legal challenges some time ago - if the EU thinks it can impose a tax on a US bank selling a German bond or share to a Swiss bank, then they are living in cloud cuckoo land. But we know that already.

Spite and greed, however, are powerful drivers in Brussels, and the FTT as currently drafted exemplifies their deep-seated animosity towards the UK particularly well.

We should simply tell them to FTT off."
 
What you're seeing across the EU and US are governments running out of other people's money to spend aka buy votes with.

This is just the beginning of the money grab. Taxes like this will be introduced all across the West.

"Wall St", "Large Corporations", "The Rich", "Pharmaceutical Companies", "Big Tobacco" are all easy targets, although ultimately it's the normal investor/consumer/citizen that gets hit with any tax, as these companies will find ways to pass it on.
 
(ANSA) - Brussels, April 19 - Italy will veto any form of taxation on financial transactions involving government debt, Italian ambassador to the European Union Ferdinando Nelli Feroci said Friday.

"Transactions on State debt must be excluded from taxable items" on which to apply the so-called Tobin Tax, Nelli Feroci said.

He added this point was "non-negotiable" for Italy.

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/en/186042
 
Quote from benwm:

Not really a "tax on bankers" then is it Austria, eh? Geez..
So really when the EU argues for a tax on bankers what they really mean is a tax on everyone except bankers... That sounds like the public are being mislead, Mr Politician.
More...

Of course. Liberals cannot say what they really wish to do in most circumstances, as it wouldn't be looked upon favorably by the public.

Instead they use emotional catch phrases and poll tested words to describe laws that sound favorable to the uninformed voter.

Then after the law is passed, it's either forgotten about by the general public, or if the unintended consequences are too great, they just blame the conservative opposition.
 
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