Brussels – The proposal for taxation on financial transactions being worked on by the European Commission "will have no impact on employment or the economy in general" and overall "will have a very limited impact". This was stated by Emer Traynor, spokesman for the European commissioner for taxation and the customs union, Algirdas Semeta, at a press conference in Brussels.
With regard to the Tobin tax, Semeta's spokeswoman confines herself to recalling that "every new tax has effects". So you, you continue, "it is a question of establishing what effects will be produced: the tax on transactions that we propose - she reiterates - will have very limited effects".
On the instrument, however, strong resistance from Great Britain remains: the London government fears that the introduction of a Tobin tax would severely hit the country, given that the largest number of financial transactions is recorded on the London Stock Exchange. The study and comparison on the measure, therefore, goes on. "At the moment the States are discussing it", and the proposal - underlines Traynor - must be addressed "by 27", and therefore also with Great Britain.
