Ministers of economy of the European Union will discuss the introduction of a European tax on financial transactions (FTT) and a tax on financial activities (FAT). FTT would represent a broader application of the idea first proposed in 1971 by American economist and Nobel laureate James Tobin.
The tax named after him, the Tobin tax, is intended to serve as an instrument to dampen speculative transactions in global markets. FAT would be levied on the total amount of profits and wages paid by financial institutions. The G20 group, the world’s most industrially developed countries, has shown greater interest in FAT than in FTT. (hrt.hr, G.J.)
Tobin Tax: a special tax on foreign trade proposed by James Tobin in the early 1970s, however, it has not yet been implemented anywhere.
