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EU trying to ruin City business

Monday, 3rd October 2011

During his State of the Union address, Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, last week announced that a financial transaction tax would be proposed as a law and could generate £47billion a year for the European Union.

The tax would levy trades in shares and bonds at a rate of 0.1% and derivative contracts at a rate of 0.01% from January 2014.

Such legislation would have a negative impact on the City of London and could drive financial firms out of London to other capitals around the world where such a tax does not exist. City of London officials have said that about 80% of the revenues of any Europe-wide financial tax would come from London. When Sweden introduced a similar tax it saw disappointing revenues and many financial companies leaving the country.

The Government has said it would veto any attempt to introduce the tax unless it was a global proposition. However, a group of European politicians are attempting to impose the levy in a way that would leave the UK powerless to veto it.

According to UKIP sources, Alggirdas Semeta, the European tax commissioner, has already started work on a project on presenting the financial transaction tax as a 'value added tax' which could be imposed without being ratified by a vote.

Godfrey Bloom MEP, UKIP's Business spokesman, said: "The word in Brussels is that Semeta and his cronies are hellbent on finding a way of introducing this devastating tax without letting member states vote on it.

"Not only does this show the extent that the EU will go to to get its way, but also the contempt it appears to have for the City of London.

"If our elected politicians do not fight tooth and nail to oppose the financial transaction tax then it will be the end of the City of London as we know it."

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