Has Gordon Brown performed yet another U-turn?
Even though the UK government denied plans to follow in the footsteps of Pres Obama by introducing a banking tax in the UK, Gordon Brown has today refloated his plans for a global transaction tax. He is suggesting that support for a global transaction tax on the worldwide financial sector is gaining support and indeed it looks as though the idea could be discussed at a forthcoming G7 summit. So what does this mean?
In simple terms Gordon Brown is suggesting that each and every transaction in the financial sector should incur a small levy which would be collected and used "for bettering society". This rather vague description of how the funding would be invested is a concern to many because there have been suggestions that it could be used to fight global warming, manage any future banking crisis, fund investment into small businesses, not to mention assisting those on low incomes around the world.
Yet again we see that the UK banking sector, and the worldwide banking sector, looks set to feel more pain in the short to medium term with an almost inevitable increase in the cost base and tax liabilities. When will the "golden cash cow" which is the worldwide banking sector finally be left alone?
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