Proposal for a Council Directive implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of financial transaction tax – COM(2013)71 final of 14.2.2013
Boris Kasavetov[1]
The present article outlines the Commission proposal of 14 February 2013 to implement a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) via enhanced cooperation between 11 Member States. While the idea of taxing the financial sector is not new, the context of the economic and financial crisis has intensified the discussions. The matter was on the agenda of G20 in 2009-2010, but no agreement could be reached on the introduction of FTT at a global level.
In the meantime, several Member States have already taken divergent action in the area of financial sector taxation. To prevent further fragmentation of the internal market the Commission tabled on 28 September 2011 a proposal for a Council Directive on a common system of FTT on the basis of Article 113 TFEU (adoption by unanimity and consultation of the European Parliament). The other objectives of the proposal were to ensure that financial institutions make a fair and substantial contribution to covering the costs of the recent crisis, and to create appropriate disincentives for transactions that do not enhance the efficiency of financial markets. The proposed broad based FTT covered very mobile products such as derivatives, mobile actors and market places, thus also contributing to tax neutrality through harmonisation. In parallel, the Commission proposed that part of the FTT revenue may become a new own resource for the EU budget that would decrease national contributions based on GNI thus contributing to Member States’ fiscal consolidation.
Following several meetings at different levels it was concluded in July 2012 that the common system of FTT at EU level will not receive unanimous support within the Council in the foreseeable future. Therefore, 11 Member States requested the Commission to initiate enhanced cooperation under Article 20 TEU. They specified that the scope and objectives of the initial FTT proposal should be retained. The present article is focused on the Commission proposal of 14 February 2013 resulting from the Council’s Decision authorising the enhanced cooperation in the area of FTT. Compliance with the various Treaty conditions on enhanced cooperation is analysed too. The new proposal respects all the essential principles of the initial one with some limited adaptations made where necessary, in particular with regard to anti-relocation measures. FTT is expected to generate approximately EUR 31 billion per year for the EU11 jurisdiction.
The first part of the article examines the background and the objectives of the Commission proposal of 14 February 2013, while its legal elements (scope, chargeability, taxable amount, rates, payment, etc.) are discussed in detail in the second part.
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Линк към цялата статия на български език: ДАНЪКЪТ ВЪРХУ ФИНАНСОВИТЕ СДЕЛКИ
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[1] Legal Officer in DG Budget of the European Commission. The information and views set out in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission.