Shoot today March XNUMXst in Italy (but also in France, Germany, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Estonia and Slovakia) the famous Tobin Tax, the tax on financial transactions that takes its name from the American economist, James Tobin, awarded with a Nobel for his theory on the taxation of market operations to fight poverty in the world.
How will the new tax work? First of all, it will be equal to 0,12% of the value of daily transactions (0,1% since 2014), and will apply to transfers of securities and equity instruments issued by companies in Italy, regardless of the country of origin of the order. If the transaction is carried out "over the counter", outside the markets, the rate rises to 0,22% (0,2% from next year).
It should also be remembered that the tax is currently applied only to shares, while on derivatives it will come into effect from 2013 July XNUMX, but the rate will vary according to the type of instrument (futures, covered warrants, options, etc) and will be staggered on the value of the transactions. The Tobin Tax will be applied to both purchase and sale transactions, even during the day.
The go-ahead for the controversial financial tax has already aroused several protests among the insiders according to which the benefit for the State (which hopes to raise one billion euros a year) will be zero because it is compensated by lower revenues from the capital gains tax. And while the EU and Italy explain that the goal is to put a stop to high frequency trading, financial intermediaries are worried about seeing a reduction in the weight of Italian securities in the portfolios of foreign investors.
