Only three of 27 EU Member States are clearly in favour
The European Commission’s proposal for an EU wide tax on financial transactions (FTT) has generated much public and political discussion since it was published on September 28, 2011. President Sarkozy recently announced proposals for a French FTT to be introduced in July 2012, and the issue has been high on the agenda of many EU Member States’ governments, leading to a British veto of recent proposals for fundamental EU reforms addressing the ongoing economic crisis.
Notwithstanding the potential economic benefits cited by the Commission, there has been significant criticism of the proposal, in particular as to whether it would in fact achieve its economic objectives and as regards its potential negative impact on EU Member States financial sectors and GDP as a whole.
KPMG’s EU Tax Centre, with the help of KPMG member firms and their EU Tax and Financial Services Tax networks, has prepared an informal ´FTT Thermometer´ which displays KPMG member firms’ understanding of the overall position of their respective governments on the FTT proposals.
The review shows that of the 27 Member States, currently only three Member States are clearly in favour, with three clearly against. That leaves another 21 in varying degrees of support, opposition or indecision.
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