Several newspapers and magazines have picked up on the fact that the European Commission has delayed, if not entirely shelved, the implementation of its proposed financial transaction tax (FTT) until the middle of 2014.
Rather than make an announcement, the commission’s admission was merely included in an update to its web pages last week and the notice was slightly ambiguous, leaving commentators to wonder whether this is just a delay or a quiet axing of the controversial measure.
The wording on the site says: ‘Once agreed upon at European level, participating member states will have to transpose the directive into national legislation. If agreement is found before the end of 2013, and there is a speedy transposition into national law by the participating member states, this common framework for an FTT could still enter into force towards the middle of 2014.’
However, such has been the reaction to the proposed tax, which has been dubbed a ‘Robin Hood tax’, from the member states in recent months that it is unlikely for anything to be ‘speedy’ and EC tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta has had to deny reports that the tax would be scaled back for the original start date of January 2014.
There had been rumblings that the member states were unhappy with some of the proposals as far back as the end of May, when sources suggested that the tax on trading bonds and shares would drop from 01 per cent to 0.01 per cent and that only shares would be affected from the proposed start date.
Mr Semeta said that it is “premature” at the moment to say what the final outcome will be, as talks are still taking place, albeit in “a constructive mood”.
