More support for FTTs....

I was pleased to see that there was a leader article in the Independent on Sunday today that gave the introduction of an FTT a thumbs up. And there have been a number of commentaries on the fact that Bill Gates has apparently produced a report recommending an FTT that will be submitted for the G20 summit. According to a Reuters report

The Gates report supports the thorny issue of a financial transaction tax as a way of raising "substantial resources" for developing countries. It suggests even a small tax of 10 basis points on equities and 2 basis points on bonds would raise about $48 billion among G20 member states, or $9 billion if only adopted by larger European countries.

 And a report on the Bloomberg News website  reports the following :

The European Commission will soon propose a financial- transaction tax that targets a broad range of trades with low rates, a European Union official said.

The tax plan will be unveiled by Oct. 5 and will target the EU’s 2014-2020 budget cycle, said the official, who didn’t want to be identified because the proposal isn’t public yet. Algirdas Semeta, the EU taxation commissioner, is scheduled to discuss the topic on Oct. 6 with the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee.

The tax would cover financial transactions involving stocks, bonds, derivatives, structured products and other types of trades. The tax needs a broad scope so that financial activity won’t move from one product to another to evade the levy, the official said.

 Are things beginning to move??