Precise suggestions on the Tobin tax come from the Senate Finance Committee, together with the solicitation of our government and the EU authorities to include the issue of the taxation of financial transactions among the topics of discussion of the next meeting of the heads of state and government of the G20 summit .
The commission approved a resolution which refers to the community directive for the introduction of the financial transaction tax (ITF) in the European financial system. The proposal has given rise to a heated debate between supporters and detractors of the new taxation: the Senate commission expresses the belief that the effectiveness of the tax on financial transactions is directly conditioned by the introduction of a similar measure, on a global level, in other legal systems.
Going into the merits of the matter, the senators of the Finance Committee reiterated that "even transactions on derivatives and structured instruments, as well as high-frequency trading (high frequency trading, of which a percentage between 20 and 40% of total trade is estimated in the Community documents assessing the impact of the proposal) fall within the taxable category of the new tax", and adds that it is also "necessary that among the foreign exchange transactions in spot markets are also included.
In order to strengthen the levy in terms of fairness, "it seems appropriate to provide for a significant increase in the rates where the counterparties of the taxed operations are based in countries with privileged taxation (the so-called tax havens)". As for the use of the resources obtained in this way, the commission puts forward precise proposals: "It appears appropriate - reads the approved resolution - to provide for a significant part of the resources raised by the ITF to flow into the ESM (European Stability Mechanism) fund, which will be set up in July. The remainder is used, within the Community, to finance initiatives and projects in support of growth, with particular reference to the field of scientific research, climate change and to finance interventions in support of demand, with particular reference to the conditions of the economically most weak. Lastly, a portion of the resources should be allocated to reducing the tax levy of the Member States".
The Senate Finance Commission pays special attention to small savers: “It appears necessary to provide for the exemption for transactions carried out by small savers, which most of the time have no speculative intent, for example bond investments of limited size. That is, the exemption could be provided for transactions that do not exceed a certain amount which could be, for example, up to fifty thousand euros”.
