VIENNA: The Financial Transaction Tax has been given a target launch date by the EU states involved in its development excluding Greece as it was the only country not to sign the agreement. The date January 1 2016 has been confirmed.
European leaders have breathed new life into the proposed Financial Transaction Tax, which stagnated after the breakdown of negotiations in December 2014.
France and Austria brought the other 9 European partners back to the table last week with a compromise proposal to unblock negotiations. The meeting ended with an agreement to launch the tax on 1 January 2016.
Austrian Finance Minister Hans-Jörg Schelling was assigned the task of coordinating the project over the coming months.
The Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) is designed to make the banks shoulder a share of the burden of rebuilding Europe’s post-crisis finances, but negotiations have been sluggish. In its initial proposal, the European Commission hoped to levy a tax of 0.1% on shares and 0.01% on bond transactions where at least one of the parties was based in the EU.
