Saturday, September 12, 2009

A Global Financial Tax?

A global tax to be imposed on financial transactions is being called for by Germany's finance minister, Peer Steinbrück.

Steinbrück is calling on the tax "in an effort to end what he derided as 'binge-drinking' on markets."

One person close to Mr Steinbrück said under the proposal, a 0.005 per cent tax would be paid on all financial transactions by banks, insurance companies and investment funds, according to FT.

How a tax of 0.005 per cent is going to stop markets from "binge-drinking" was left unclear. It's a little like taking hair shampoo away from a bald man. BUT such a tax would set precedent for further direct international monkeying with financial markets and international taxation, which will conveniently ignore central bank money printing which is at the core of "binge" market activity.

Fortunately there doesn't appear to be much of a chance that Steinbrück's call for the tax will gain much velocity in the near term.

A spokesman for German president Angela Merkel told the Financial Times that the chancellor was willing to discuss an international tax on transactions but said it had close to no chance of being agreed. “You cannot float ideas like that two weeks before a summit,” he said. “I suspect this is mainly electioneering on the part of Mr Steinbrück.”

But the idea of a global financial tax has now been mentioned for a second time. Lord Turner, chairman of the UK Financial Services Authority, also recently proposed a similar idea of a global tax on financial transactions. So the idea is certainly floating around and left to germinate in the minds of global plotters.

1 comment:

  1. That is worse than it sounds.
    The tax itself perhaps is a decoy, so they would agree on a 0% tax. The real prize would be in establishing the mechanism to tax the world and getting it accepted over time. "Oh, just sign this little no-cost thingy, and you'll get that investment/loan/deal/whatever - you do need it tomorrow, don't you?". Once the framework is set up, the number can go up, the strings can multiply. For now it'd be just a hook.
    Oh, those UN noises on better currency to replace the dollar, they are kind of in tune with this one, aren't they? Towards better global currency, better global taxation, and before long it's the "better central bank, also global - to run these things".
    There is no way this can be agreed on globally for now. But the creeps have time and patience to slow-cook.

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