At least so say the lawyers who have been asked to have a look at this, that the financial transactions tax (FTT) proposed in Europe is illegal in its current form. All of which is rather embarrassing for the people behind the Robin Hood Tax I would think, for this is their proposal essentially.
So much for Europe's great sprint to tax financial transactions. In a leaked opinion dated September 6, the EU Council's Legal Service argues that the proposed levy is "not compatible" with European Union treaties because it "infringes upon the taxing competences of non participating Member States." Translated from the legalese, that means France, say, would be collecting revenue on certain trades conducted in the U.K. though the U.K. government hasn't agreed to the tax.
There's more to it than just this. As I pointed out in this paper (which became the basis of my evidence to the House of Lords on this subject. Evidence which was, amusingly, supported by another witness offering a blog post from here as part of his evidence) even the EU Commission itself, in its own report, had agreed that it would be illegal to tax foreign exchange transactions in this manner. For to do so would be against the basic Treaty aim of the free movement of capital within the EU. Reported by Forbes.com 1 day ago.
So much for Europe's great sprint to tax financial transactions. In a leaked opinion dated September 6, the EU Council's Legal Service argues that the proposed levy is "not compatible" with European Union treaties because it "infringes upon the taxing competences of non participating Member States." Translated from the legalese, that means France, say, would be collecting revenue on certain trades conducted in the U.K. though the U.K. government hasn't agreed to the tax.
There's more to it than just this. As I pointed out in this paper (which became the basis of my evidence to the House of Lords on this subject. Evidence which was, amusingly, supported by another witness offering a blog post from here as part of his evidence) even the EU Commission itself, in its own report, had agreed that it would be illegal to tax foreign exchange transactions in this manner. For to do so would be against the basic Treaty aim of the free movement of capital within the EU. Reported by Forbes.com 1 day ago.