Tw8t: Brown urges new banks 'contract'
Discussion
t, does that mean I can go out and do whatever I like, before the end arrives?
Ha ha hah:
"Gordon Brown: worldwide snub over tax plans
Gordon Brown is facing international embarrassment after leading nations slapped down his proposal for a tax on financial transactions to raise hundreds of billions of pounds.
The Prime Minister used a speech at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in St Andrews to call for the new tax to fund future bank bailouts – despite previous government opposition to such a move.
However, within hours of his speech, both the US and Canada rejected the plan. Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary, said: "That's not something that we're prepared to support."
Canada's finance minister, Jim Flaherty, said: "It is not something we would be interested in in Canada. We are not in the business of raising taxes, we are in the business of lowering taxes in Canada. It is not an idea we would look at."
Dominique Strauss-Khan, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), also poured cold water on the plan. “I don’t believe it will be a transaction tax because transactions are very difficult to measure and so it’s very easy to avoid a transaction tax,” he said.
The swiftness of the rejection was a serious blow for Mr Brown who had gone to Scotland to deliver a trenchant message to banks worldwide amid continuing public anger over their return to profitability and bonus payments after being kept afloat by taxpayers.
The Prime Minister said more needed to be done to provide a "better economic and social contract" and that financial institutions had a "global responsibility" to society.
He said a tax on transactions – often known as a "Tobin tax" was one option which should be considered, adding that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would review the issue and report back next April.
However, hours after his declaration, the idea appeared dead in the water with the uncompromising reaction of both the US and Canada.
Even as he suggested the move, Mr Brown appeared to acknowledge that Britain risked isolation. He said: "Let me be clear – Britain will not move unless others move with us together."
Opposition politicians poured scorn on the Prime Minister. Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: "Gordon Brown looks humiliated and isolated, a bit part player on the world stage.
"Only weeks after his own Treasury rubbished the Tobin tax he's pulled it out of the hat like an old conjurer desperate for a new trick."
Experts said France and Germany might support plans for the transaction tax, which has been previously opposed by The Treasury, British banks and Boris Johnson, the London Mayor.
Even Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, who was at Mr Brown's side at the G20 meeting, last night declined to say whether he personally supported the move.
Mr Brown listed various potential alternatives to the Tobin tax – including charging banks an insurance fee and the establishment of a "resolution fund" – but he is understood to favour the transaction levy.
A source close to him said he was making clear that the public needed to be given confidence in financial institutions and that there needed to be a fairer balance of risks and rewards between taxpayers, citizens, shareholders and bank employees.
Downing Street sources last night insisted Mr Geithner's intervention was not an outright rejection of the plan. One said: "What he was trying to do was calm down hype that we're about to introduce a massive tax on banks overnight."
The row over the tax comes just days before Barclays is expected to unveil profits of £1.5bn in a sign that Britain's banks are returning to health despite the recession.
The profits for the three months to September come as the high street lender prepares to pay out up to £5bn in bonuses and salaries at its investment bank."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politic...
"Gordon Brown: worldwide snub over tax plans
Gordon Brown is facing international embarrassment after leading nations slapped down his proposal for a tax on financial transactions to raise hundreds of billions of pounds.
The Prime Minister used a speech at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in St Andrews to call for the new tax to fund future bank bailouts – despite previous government opposition to such a move.
However, within hours of his speech, both the US and Canada rejected the plan. Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary, said: "That's not something that we're prepared to support."
Canada's finance minister, Jim Flaherty, said: "It is not something we would be interested in in Canada. We are not in the business of raising taxes, we are in the business of lowering taxes in Canada. It is not an idea we would look at."
Dominique Strauss-Khan, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), also poured cold water on the plan. “I don’t believe it will be a transaction tax because transactions are very difficult to measure and so it’s very easy to avoid a transaction tax,” he said.
The swiftness of the rejection was a serious blow for Mr Brown who had gone to Scotland to deliver a trenchant message to banks worldwide amid continuing public anger over their return to profitability and bonus payments after being kept afloat by taxpayers.
The Prime Minister said more needed to be done to provide a "better economic and social contract" and that financial institutions had a "global responsibility" to society.
He said a tax on transactions – often known as a "Tobin tax" was one option which should be considered, adding that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would review the issue and report back next April.
However, hours after his declaration, the idea appeared dead in the water with the uncompromising reaction of both the US and Canada.
Even as he suggested the move, Mr Brown appeared to acknowledge that Britain risked isolation. He said: "Let me be clear – Britain will not move unless others move with us together."
Opposition politicians poured scorn on the Prime Minister. Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: "Gordon Brown looks humiliated and isolated, a bit part player on the world stage.
"Only weeks after his own Treasury rubbished the Tobin tax he's pulled it out of the hat like an old conjurer desperate for a new trick."
Experts said France and Germany might support plans for the transaction tax, which has been previously opposed by The Treasury, British banks and Boris Johnson, the London Mayor.
Even Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, who was at Mr Brown's side at the G20 meeting, last night declined to say whether he personally supported the move.
Mr Brown listed various potential alternatives to the Tobin tax – including charging banks an insurance fee and the establishment of a "resolution fund" – but he is understood to favour the transaction levy.
A source close to him said he was making clear that the public needed to be given confidence in financial institutions and that there needed to be a fairer balance of risks and rewards between taxpayers, citizens, shareholders and bank employees.
Downing Street sources last night insisted Mr Geithner's intervention was not an outright rejection of the plan. One said: "What he was trying to do was calm down hype that we're about to introduce a massive tax on banks overnight."
The row over the tax comes just days before Barclays is expected to unveil profits of £1.5bn in a sign that Britain's banks are returning to health despite the recession.
The profits for the three months to September come as the high street lender prepares to pay out up to £5bn in bonuses and salaries at its investment bank."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politic...
chris watton said:
worldwide snub for winky over tax plans
Major item on TV news this morning though the BBC seem a bit slow on it, burying it away from 'other top stories' in a small box halfway down their News webpage under 'Features Views Analysis'.The comment by Jim Flaherty ("We are not in the business of raising taxes, we are in the business of lowering taxes in Canada.") would be difficult for the EU gravytrainers to understand even after translation and was a timely slap in the chops for Meltdown's economic mismanagement.
thinfourth2 said:
Bet he goes ahead within it anyway to turn this county into a sort of anti-tax haven a bit like Monaco but the other way round where rich folk are encouraged to leave and the workers are in paradise which is funded by all the rich folk who aren't there anymore.
Yep that makes sense - to Winky & Co
thinfourth2 said:
Bet he goes ahead within it anyway to turn this county into a sort of anti-tax haven a bit like Monaco but the other way round where rich folk are encouraged to leave and the workers are in paradise which is funded by all the rich folk who aren't there anymore.
Yep can see him trying to do this, the thought process will keep shrinks busy for years, trying to work out why the PM of a country where banking was a significant % of GNP was so hell bent on destroying it through taxation and missguided regulationGassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff