Germany remains strongly in favor of implementing an E.U. financial transaction tax, reaffimed Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, but it is a complicated matter, he added. In an interview with Badische Zeitung, the Minister said he is convinced that once the tax is implemented E.U. members that now oppose it will end up adopting the financial transaction tax. He said that the E.U. definitely plan to make good progress on implementing the tax this year.
But he acknowledged that some member states are against the financial transaction tax because they are afraid that the financial sector will take its business elsewhere. Even the 11 countries that want to move forward with the tax have differences of opinion. Germany supports a comprehensive financial transaction tax, but right now ``we just need an agreement.’’
In recent remarks, European Commissioner for Taxation Algirdas Semeta urged E.U. members to agree on the implementation of the first step of the FTT before the end of this year, with the ultimate goal of a broad based tax. priority should be given to the discussions on the Financial Transaction tax under enhanced cooperation.