Brussels, 26/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 26 January, the European Commission challenged the arguments put forward by the British prime minister in Davos when rejecting the proposal for a financial transactions tax (FTT) in the EU. David Cameron argued on the basis of estimates made by the European Commission itself to demonstrate the disastrous economic impact that he felt the tax would have. According to the British prime minster, the Commission estimated that 500,000 jobs would be lost and that the EU's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would fall by some €200 billion.
The Commission spokesman for tax questions, Emer Traynor, told AFP that “such figures are certainly not figures that the Commission would like to hear”. He estimated that the study mentioned by Cameron was “completely out of context”. “When assessing the impact of the FTT in a balanced way, we must also take into account the effect that the new revenues will also have on growth and jobs”, estimating the revenue from the tax at €57 billion a year. “So, if the revenues are intelligently recycled into the economy, then there would be no negative impact on growth and jobs at all, even in the long term”, the spokesperson said. She added that, in periods of austerity, the FTT would provide an interesting alternative to further increasing other taxes, with a limited impact on the banking sector and, in her view, no risk of relocation of financial activity. (LC/transl.jl)