Brussels, 22/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Austria and France have made a proposal to the other member states wishing to bring in a joint financial transactions tax (FTT) in 2016 that the work be redirected towards setting in place a broad tax base and low rates.
We want to give “new impetus” to the discussions on the FTT and “confirm our objective of implementation in 2016”, said the French finance minister, Michel Sapin, and his Austrian opposite number, Hans-Jörg Schelling, in a joint letter of 21 January - of which EUROPE has seen a copy - to the ministers of the nine other countries (Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Slovakia, Estonia and Slovenia) wishing to set the FTT in place in the framework of enhanced cooperation.
The 11 states will meet in Brussels early next week on the sidelines of a meeting of the finance ministers, to seek to relaunch this controversial dossier (see EUROPE 11214).
According to the ministers, the best way of starting again from scratch is to lay down the principle that the FTT “should be based on the broadest possible tax base, together with low rates”.
Sapin and Schelling are anxious to limit the risks of the relocation of certain financial activities, a phenomenon which would reduce the revenue anticipated from the tax without genuinely limiting speculative activities. To ensure this, they stress the importance of the technical characteristics of the FTT.
The ministers also propose appointing a minister to chair the working group and steer the work, in which the European Commission and Council fo the EU would have a permanent involvement. (MB)