Complaint to EU: German Banks Try to Torpedo Transaction Taxes

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/german-banks-complain-about-french-and-italian-transactions-tax-a-939345.html



German banking associations have sent letters to the European Commission urging it to forbid the new financial transaction taxes imposed by France and Italy. Insiders believe the letters are an attempt by the banking lobby to block a planned EU-wide financial transaction tax.

Complaint to EU: German Banks Try to Torpedo Transaction Taxes
By Claus Hecking and Stefan Kaiser
December 16, 2013 – 04:13 PM

Germany's banks have launched a campaign against new financial transaction taxes introduced by France and Italy. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, six leading German financial industry groups have lodged an official complaint with the European Commission against both countries. The taxes are "a breach of European law," according to two confidential, almost identical letters dated Sept. 23 that SPIEGEL ONLINE has seen. The groups are headed by all the relevant business associations of the German financial sector, including the savings and cooperative banks and the investment fund industry. They also include the Federal Association of Public Banks, which represents state-owned promotional banks and the regional Landesbanken.

The banks have been fighting the introduction of a financial transactions tax for years. European governments want the tax to recoup some of the billions of euros they spent on various bank bailout programs. The European financial transaction tax that Germany plans to introduce together with France, Italy and eight other EU member states could end up being especially expensive for the banks.

According to the plans, an additional tax of 0.1 percent will be charged on every sale and purchase of a share or bond. For derivative instruments, the tax will be 0.01 percent.

Two European countries have already gone ahead and introduced their own taxes. In August 2012, France imposed a tax of 0.2 percent on trade in shares of all national companies with a stock market capitalization of more than €1 billion ($1.4 billion). Italy followed suit in March 2013. Both countries charge the tax regardless of whether the transactions took place within their territory. The European tax will work in the same way.