Date
Financial services

Is some form of European Financial Transaction Tax now inevitable?

By
Body
  • There is now a significant probability of some form of new Financial Transaction Tax at some level in Europe.
  • The fact that the UK is strongly opposed to such a tax and will veto any such measure at the EU level will not preclude an FTT being introduced among the Eurozone countries. The tax would impact on any financial institution selling or buying financial assets with Eurozone counterparties.
  • The likelihood is that the Eurozone would levy the tax on the basis of a combination of residency and change of ownership of assets and this means it would impact on financial centres that specialize in financial intermediation such as London.

The views expressed in this report can be attributed to the named author(s) only.