A EUROPEAN financial transaction tax (FTT) will become a reality after 11 eurozone countries, including Slovakia, approved it on January 21. Finance ministers from Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Malta, and the UK were the only ones to oppose the tax, and their countries will not adopt it for now, the Sme daily wrote.
The original rates – 0.1 percent for bonds and 0.01 for derivatives – should be preserved, although the proposal will undergo a re-draft.
Slovakia wants to be assured that the FTT will not affect the competitiveness of the financial sector, said Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kažimír, as quoted by the TASR newswire, after the session of EU finance ministers in Brussels.
The FTT has reached another level, he said.
“When it comes to our interests, there’s still an effort to prepare such a type of tax ... which won’t worsen the competitiveness of our financial sector and won’t represent an additional burden that could consequently be transferred on to clients,” Kažimír said.
