France and Germany follow the United Kingdom on bank charges
Saturday, August 21st, 2010The British finance minister George Osborne said on Tuesday the introduction of a tax on the assets of banks operating in the United Kingdom, while France and Germany support this measure and prepare to join, at he said.
According to Osborne, the tax on banks' balance sheets will bring the order of 2 billion pounds (2.4 billion euros) per year when it is applied completely. It is expected to set the tax rate to 0.07% with a discount of 0.04% in 2011.
Mr. Osborne, who presented his first budget since the May 6 election, noted that "the failure of banks has imposed huge costs to the rest of society", and was thus "fair" that they are contributing to the economy. "Some have argued we should wait for every G20 introduce such a tax."I think it is neither fair nor reasonable," he said.
A "fair share to reflect the risk" posed by banks
The minister said that "the French and Germans had joined the United Kingdom today by pledging to introduce a tax" on banks' assets."In a joint statement, he said, our three Governments undertake to ensure that our banks make their fair contribution to reflect the risk they pose."
Published on the website shortly after the British Treasury, the Joint Declaration of the French, British and German banking fees "covers much of the ideas raised by Paris and Berlin yesterday in a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, G20 a few days in Toronto.
"In light of the agreement within the G20, that the financial sector expected to contribute immediately and substantially to pay for expenses associated with government intervention to rescue the banking system – (…) the French, British German and suggest introducing fees based on assets of banks, "said this particular statement.
"The UK tax is announced today, France will present the details of his in the upcoming budget (and) Germany has announced the general framework of a tax credit in late March and will present the bill to the summer, "recalls the text.
It ensures that those three charges "may differ from one another, to reflect economic conditions and tax systems differ from one country to another, but the level of tax take into account the need ensure an equal level of play "between countries, says he.
"The French, British and German want to see fully implement the ambitious program of financial sector reform, the G20 and they look forward to discussing these proposals further with their international partners in the G20 summit on June 24, concludes the text.
The French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had written in the same direction on Monday Mr. Harper also requesting that consideration be put in place a tax on financial transactions.