EU leaders are at it once again; putting Financial Transaction Taxes (FTTs or Tobin Taxes as they are also called) back on the agenda while they are forced on the back foot by the unresolved Euro crisis. At a time when citizens are losing faith in the ability of our leaders to solve the crisis, talking about FTTs, which remain heavily popular with the public, almost always earns political brownie points.
But what can FTTs really achieve? And is the current approach, presented by the European Commission, designed to succeed? If not, should be abandon the idea altogether or is there another tax design that will work better?
One thing is for sure FTTs will not change the world, nor democratize global finance. Nor will they raise the hundreds of billions of Euros of revenue that is sometimes attributed to them. But, approached sensibly, a well-designed and flexible regime for financial transaction taxes can deliver a lot of benefits.
2 hours 56 min ago —
To undermine everyone else? “@michaelhewson: *FAYMANN SAYS AUSTRIA WILL WORK CLOSELY WITH LUXEMBOURG ON TAX”
3 hours 6 min ago —
#TaxHaven reform is critical for those who care abt 1 #Corruption 2 #CapitalFlight 3 #WelfareState 4 #Development 5 #FinStability 6 #Crime
3 hours 16 min ago —
Agreed! “@DPJHodges: Labour letting Ed do a power-point presentation is like No.10 letting Cam do a photo op sitting on a horse.”
3 hours 27 min ago —
If you need to invoke #morality to ensure that companies pay their taxes and banks act sensibly, you have a problem, not banks & companies!
3 hours 51 min ago —
Criticism of #Apple & #Starbucks notwithstanding, I am one of those who believes that the #TaxAvoidance prob is a failure of govts not corps
EU leaders are at it once again; putting Financial Transaction Taxes (FTTs or Tobin Taxes as they are also called) back on the agenda while they are forced on the back foot by the unresolved Euro crisis. At a time when citizens are losing faith in the ability of our leaders to solve the crisis, talking about FTTs, which remain heavily popular with the public, almost always earns political brownie points.