Attac fought for the introduction of a financial transaction tax for more than ten years. Today another big step forward was made. The European Parliament adopted the Commission proposal from last year.
The EP has today given its clear endorsement to the Commission's proposals for an EU financial transaction tax, marking an important landmark on the long road towards the introduction of the FTT. The Greens have long advocated an FTT both to help curb risky financial speculation and generate needed revenue for under-pressure exchequers (such as for development, climate aid as part of an EU system of own resources). In order to limit a shift of transactions outside the scope of the directive the Commission and the Parliament intend to levy the tax at the place of residence of the involved actors. Even transactions ordered outside the EU can thus become subject to taxation.
The Greens have proposed further practical measures to limit evasion and avoidance which have been adopted by the house. It is now up to the member states to finally make the FTT a reality and put the Parliament's suggestions into force. Today's vote is a big step forwards towards the goal we were focusing on during more than ten years. However, the Greens believe exempting pension funds from the FTT is not the right approach to take.
Ideally, the FTT should apply in the EU as a whole but we need to push forward with an agreement as swiftly as possible via enhanced cooperation with the widest possible group of EU members. If the UK government continues blocking the adoption of the legislation in Council against the will of a majority of the European population (this includes a majority amongst British citizens) other countries must form a coalition of the willing and pursue the introduce the speculation tax with a broad base.
Civil society's, unions' and churches' vital pressure must be upheld during this final critical phase so that our common aim to hold the financial sector liable and insist on its fair contribution to the cost of the crisis can be reached in a timely manner.
We have summarised our Green keypoints of the legislation at the end of this email and here:
The Commission proposals can be found here:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0594:FIN:EN:PDF
The Parliaments adopted amendments can be found here: