Abstract
The European Commission has included a Eurozone financial transaction tax in its longterm budget, as a first step towards a global tax. This move was taken despite negative European Commission and International Monetary Fund staff reports, which concluded that a tax would reduce the efficiency of capital markets, and raise the cost of capital. The efficiency frameworks used in the staff reviews were unduly narrow. Markets work best when there are strong links between market trading and real economic activity. Of late, these links have become increasingly tenuous and latent market and financial system risks are mounting. Carefully calibrated legal and tax responses are required to change market behaviour. Such a tax as part of an integrated policy framework would reduce short-term momentum trading and promote longer-term investment that would better reflect underlying economic fundamentals. So we argue the European Commission is correct in proposing to adopt such a tax.
Disciplines
Antitrust and Trade Regulation | Banking and Finance | International Law | Law and Economics | Tax Law
Date of this Version
November 2011
Recommended Citation
Ross Buckley and Gill North, "A Financial Transactions Tax: Inefficient or Needed Systemic Reform?" (November 2011). University of New South Wales Faculty of Law Research Series 2011. Working Paper 56.
http://law.bepress.com/unswwps-flrps11/art56
Included in
Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons, Banking and Finance Commons, International Law Commons, Law and Economics Commons, Tax Law Commons
Comments
This article is to be published in Georgetown International Law Journal (forthcoming). This paper may also be referenced as [2011] UNSWLRS 53.