11 EU Nations Set To Tax Financial Transactions – “It’s a tax on job” says UK treasury chief George Osborne

A group of 11 European Union countries agreed to introduce a financial transaction tax from 2016 onward, Austrian Finance Minister Michael Spindelegger said Tuesday. 

The nations — including economic heavyweights Germany, France, Italy and Spain — will initially tax only the trading of shares and some derivatives, Spindelegger told a meeting of the EU’s 28 finance ministers in Brussels.

European officials started pushing for the tax following the 2008-09 financial crisis, to curb speculation and claw back revenues after government bailouts of banks, but failed to muster the required unanimity for an EU-wide solution.

Britain, which is home to the bloc’s biggest financial hub, the City of London, is strongly opposed to the plan, saying it’s a populist measure that will harm the economy and undermine banks’ global competitiveness.

“It’s not a tax on bankers, it’s a tax on job on investment, on people’s pensions. That’s why the United Kingdom does not want to be a part of it,” U.K. treasury chief George Osborne said.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 11 EU nations set to tax financial transactions – The Washington Post.