BRATISLAVA - Slovakian banks will soon be charged a new tax based on the size of their outstanding liabilities. On October 20th Slovakian lawmakers approved a new tax measure to be imposed on banks, in the hopes of lowering the national budget deficit and shoring funds for future financial sector bailouts. The new tax will be levied at 0.4 percent of the banks’ outstanding liabilities, excluding any insured deposits, core capital and savings deposits. Commenting on the approval of ... Read More

Eurozone leaders will meet this week to discuss the feasibility and benefits of instating a new tax on banks in order to raise funds for further bailout payments to the debt-stricken Greece. Early on July 18th German media sources reveled that Eurozone leaders would discuss a new bank tax at a summit scheduled for July 21st. Later on in the same day the European Affairs Minister of France Jean Leonetti confirmed that the bank tax is a topic that would be discussed at ... Read More

The European Commission has taken another step forward in the process of refining and potentially implementing ideas for an international financial transaction tax, as the issue was recently discussed in a meeting of EU-finance ministry representatives. On January 19th the European Commission's Tax Policy Group (TPG) , a committee within the European Commission (EC) tasked with addressing fundamental issues in taxation across the EU, held a meeting between the representatives of Finance Ministers of EU-member states, which was chaired by the Commissioner for ... Read More

Leaked documents have revealed that EU finance ministers were being urged to consider approving a new levy on bank’s assets, in order to support a new international financial stability fund. On January 10th a report was presented to lower-level finance ministers across the European Union (EU), outlining several proposed measures for the expansion of the EU-wide European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The report was intended to remain confidential but was leaked to the media within days of its release. Among its several proposals, the report ... Read More

The results of a new survey has been revealed indicating that Australian taxpayers are unsatisfied with what they perceive to be a low level of taxation on the country’s banks, and that they believe issue of an extra bank tax has to be brought into greater discussion. On December 15th the Australia Institute, an independent national think-tank concerned with fiscal policy analysis, released the results of a new survey, showing that 81 percent of Australians believe that a new bank tax should be ... Read More