Seeing the news
today, I could not help but share the fury BoE Chancellor George Osborne is
feeling regarding the Financial Transactions Tax. It seems that 11 EU countries
had decided to go secret and developed the FTT without the knowledge of the United
Kingdom and several other EU countries.
According to Osborne,
“it’s not a tax on bankers; it’s a tax on jobs, on investment, on people’s
pensions.” The UK government threatened legal challenge against the EU’s new
policies, which was rejected by its court. Osborne said in fury that the FTT
was clearly vague because it lacked the details that indicate which shares and
derivatives will have the imposed taxes.
The UK is
seeing great economic progress, with manufacturing growing stronger in support
for the economic increases the services sector had provided the country. If the
FTT’s vague new taxes come into play, it may scare off investors, which may
also cause panic in different sectors and affecting UK’s economic growth.
The FTT came
in at a bad time for the United Kingdom. Its case is growing stronger and
stronger despite warnings from different industries. Business Europe even wrote
to the EU finance ministers that even narrowing down the terms of the FTT will
still impact Europe negatively.
