Talk:European Union financial transaction tax

Prologue
The article doesn't mention one obvious downside, in that many financial businesses would move their business out of the EU. "It would not affect citizens and businesses" is too vague, because it would affect those employed by them, e.g. accountants, lawyers, estate agents, office cleaners and so on. Has an independent entity done a cost-benefit analysis?86.42.205.50 (talk) 12:34, 28 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I have removed that sentence from the lead section. See section "scope", which quotes the European Commission: "It would cover 85% of the transactions between financial institutions (banks, investment firms, insurance companies, pension funds, hedge funds and others), but not affect citizens and businesses."--spitzl (talk) 22:53, 29 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Well done. The Commission is hardly neutral on this subject. If the law is introduced in some member states, what will happen is that their large main street banks and pension funds will of course pay it, but other businesses like hedge funds and reinsurance companies will probably go elsewhere. When a business and its salaries depart, then of course the salaries and office costs will not be spent locally any more, and this would certainly affect "citizens and businesses". It's interesting that no independent study has been done for such a proposal.86.42.194.168 (talk) 14:07, 30 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Well, there are independent scientific studies on the topic. Take for example the study of Stephany Griffith-Jones of Colombia University. I have added a short paragraph about the opinions of three experts testifying at the EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee meeting in February 2012. But I agree, the article would gain from further hard evidence. I suggest to collect related scientific studies in the section "Evaluation and reception". We should also try to keep this section clean from POV political evaluations, though I admit, this is more easily said than done. Take the quote from Kenneth Rogoff. IMHO this is more a political statement than providing scientific facts. --spitzl (talk) 00:07, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

Rogoff statement
I have removed the following Rogoff statement from the article: "'Perhaps officials noticed that virtually everything in Europe is already heavily taxed. So, rather than finance the European Union’s institutions through greater contributions from existing tax bases, they are seeking a consensus for new revenue sources. Or perhaps the Commission realizes that the FTT will be dead on arrival, owing to disputes within Europe, and simply wants to gain political capital from an enormous popular proposal.'" It seems to be a political statement rather than one based on economic analysis. According to this List_of_countries_by_tax_rates, tax rates in Europe are not much higher than in the US. In fact US corporate tax rate e.g. seems to be higher than in any European country.--spitzl (talk) 15:22, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Supporting/Opposing countries
Although it is perhaps a semantic issue, would changing the name of "Supporting/Opposing countries" lists to "Supporting/Opposing governments" be more accurate, as I assume there are individuals, groups and political parties in all of these countries that have a position on the tax which is opposed to that of their country's government's position? Benson85 (talk) 18:53, 2 September 2012 (UTC)
 * I am fine with that. Be bold. --spitzl (talk) 11:22, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

SVG graph needs to be fixed/updated
We need help fixing/updating. If you have a good svg editor, please give it a try, thanx. --spitzl (talk) 19:59, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
 * It is fixed now. --spitzl (talk) 14:02, 25 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Please, could someone make another do-over? Estonia has reviewed its position and is not supporting the FTT anymore, thus it should be recolored. Thank you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.80.106.122 (talk) 14:49, 8 December 2015 (UTC)
 * ✅ TDL (talk) 04:47, 5 July 2016 (UTC)

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External links modified
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Is the proposal by the Commission withdrawn?
According to this source the proposal by the Commission was withdrawn already in 2016, but there is no comment about this in the text. Have I missed something? --Glentamara (talk) 10:47, 14 February 2019 (UTC)
 * That's the 2011 proposal pre-dating enhanced cooperation. TDL (talk) 00:57, 16 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Yup, sure, but that was the one leading to the initiation of the enhanced cooperation. The enhanced cooperation was initiated to adopt this proposal without all member states agreeing. --Glentamara (talk) 08:02, 16 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Ok, you're right! I found a new proposal by the Commission, which is the existing one, see . --Glentamara (talk) 08:09, 16 February 2019 (UTC)