Posted on 02/04/2012 10:38:15 PM PST by Olog-hai
The EU commission is revising its impact assessment of a proposed financial transactions tax (FTT), which included a worst-case scenario leading to job losses. The responsible commissioner now says original projections were "misused" and the overall impact will be positive.
"The commission services are carrying out a fine-tuned economic analysis," a spokeswoman for commissioner Algirdas Semeta, in charge of taxation, told this website on Friday (3 February).
The revised impact assessment is expected to focus on the positive impact of a 0.1 percent tax on primary markets and 0.01 percent on the much larger and more speculative market for derivatives.
The commission's first assessment, published in September last year, suggested that in the long run such a tax could reduce future GDP by 1.76 percent. It also said there was a risk companies would relocate to escape the tax.
The commission is currently saying the levy could raise some €57 billion a year, from a sector widely blamed for causing the 2008 financial crisis.
In an op-ed published in several European newspapers on Thursday, Semeta said the tax has gained wider acceptance among member states and that a "huge popular momentum" has formed behind it. He noted a "certain resistance by some" countries, however—a likely reference to British Prime Minister David Cameron, who has said the scheme is "madness." …
(Excerpt) Read more at euobserver.com ...
Yes, time for the UK to exit the EU.
Huh, I would have thought that if you wanted to be “fair” you would tax speculators more than legitimate businesses.
The percentages need to be at least be reversed - but eliminated actually...:^)
.01 will go to 10% with lightning speed
No government bureaucrat has EVER found something wrong with increasing the pot of money that he/she has access to for spending.
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