Implementing a worldwide Financial Transaction Tax would lead to billions being raised in extra tax revenues across the world, however the system will have no direct positive impact on the international finance market. With just more than a week to go before the meeting of EU Finance Ministers, scheduled to be held in Brussels on June 23rd, the UK Institute of Development Studies has released a new report on the potential effectiveness of an Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). The authors of the publication ... Read More

France is once again urging governments across the world to instate an extensive financial transactions tax, saying that it would be an ideal tool for raising funds towards environmental and development projects, while reducing the occurrence of excessively risky speculative activities by financial institutions. At the recent weekend’s meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from G20 nations in Paris, France came forward to once again spearhead a drive for an international financial transactions tax (FTT). France’s determination to instate the tax ... Read More

Several of the world’s most economically influential countries will approach the United Nations later this month, and request the introduction of an international currency transaction tax. After a brief reprieve, numerous countries are once again raising the call for an international currency transaction tax (often referred to as a Tobin Tax) to be instated worldwide. On September 1st Bernard Kouchner, Foreign Minister of France, announced that a group of sixty nations, most notably France, Britain and Japan, will propose the tax at the ... Read More

International aid development projects could be benefited with billions of extra funding if a minuscule tax were to be added to the current foreign exchange trade framework. In excess of USD 30 billion could be raised annually to fund international development projects, if an international consensus was reached to impose a 0.005 percent Current Transaction Tax (CTT). The idea was raised last week in Globalizing Solidarity : The Case for Financial Levies, a report prepared by the Leading Group, under commission of 12 ... Read More

The European Parliament (EP) Member nations have passed a resolution committing to expand their efforts to assist poorer countries. Proposed measures included greater transparency in tax haven jurisdictions, a new tax on financial transactions, sharing of profit from the European Union Emissions Trading System (EUETS), a temporary debt repayment moratorium, and reducing remittance costs. The European Parliament (EP) passed a tabled resolution on March 25th, which stated that it is the EU’s obligation to assist developing nations in recovering from the financial ... Read More

India's Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) announced on December 2nd that their net direct tax collections for the first eight month of the current fiscal year had risen by 3.71%, compared to the same period in the previous year. In what the Indian Income Tax Department (ITD) labeled as “impressive growth,” the CBDT reported net tax collections of INR1,838 billion for the April up to November period, from INR1,776 billion in the equivalent period in the previous fiscal year. PIT collection, which ... Read More

The UK’s Trades Unions Congress (TUC) has called for the country to create a financial transaction tax. According to statements released by TUC on November 11th the UK needs to begin taxing financial institutions in order to aid in repairing the damage done to the economy. TUC claims that this could be done with a 0.05% levy on some inter-institution financial transactions. The TUC proposal would see a levy on transactions through the Clearing House Automated Payments System (CHAPS), a system used ... Read More