ECONOMY

Plan for an EU financial transaction tax of 0.2 pct

Plan for an EU financial transaction tax of 0.2 pct

The plans drawn up by German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz for a new financial transaction tax in 10 European Union states, including Greece, provide for a tax of 0.2 percent of the transaction value of purchases of shares in large companies.

According to the plans, forwarded by Scholz to his peers from the other nine EU states, he expects to generate annual revenues of around 1.5 billion euros initially in Germany, a German Finance Ministry document showed.

Plans for an EU financial transaction tax have stumbled over the past years. After an initial proposal in 2011 was blocked by member governments, a group of states pressed ahead, while the majority of the 28 EU states backed down.

The shares affected would be in companies valued at over 1 billion euros, meaning the tax would apply to purchases of shares in more than 500 companies in all 10 countries – Greece, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia.

“We are now close to reaching our goal,” Scholz wrote to ministers from the other states involved in the plan in a letter seen by Reuters.

[Reuters]

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