Newsletter October 2010: EU likely to propose more taxes on financial sector

BRUSSELS – The European Commission is putting its weight behind the idea of a Financial Activities Tax that could be levied at an EU-level, and potentially raise some €25 billion ($35 billion), on some estimates. This emerges from a ‘Communication’ issued in early October by the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, assessing the benefits and disadvantages of a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT), designed to tax the value of most transactions, and a Financial Activities Tax (FAT), that falls on the profits and wages of financial firms.