European Commission adopts details for FTT

As requested by the 11 Member States that will proceed with this tax, the proposed Directive mirrors the scope and objectives of the original FTT proposal put forward by the Commission in September 2011. The approach of taxing all transactions with an established link to the FTT-zone is maintained, as are the rates of 0.1% for shares and bonds and 0.01% for derivatives.

When applied by the 11 Member States, this Financial Transaction Tax is expected to deliver revenues of 30-35 billion euros a year. The 11 countries are Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Slovakia, Holland and Slovenia.

There are certain limited changes in today`s FTT proposal compared to the original one, to take into account the fact that the tax will be implemented on a smaller geographical scale than originally foreseen. These changes are mainly to ensure legal clarity and to reinforce anti-avoidance and anti-abuse provisions.

Algirdas Semeta, Commissioner responsible for Taxation, said: "With today`s proposal, everything is in place to enable a common Financial Transaction Tax to be become a reality in the EU. On the table is an unquestionably fair and technically sound tax, which will strengthen our Single Market and temper irresponsible trading".

He added that "eleven Member States called for this proposal, so that they can proceed with the FTT through enhanced cooperation. I now call on those same Member States to push ahead with ambition – to drive, decide and deliver on the world`s first regional FTT."