Of course, taxation of financial firms profits and bonuses should be made more similar to that of other economic activities.

An FTT is most suitable for such a venture for two reasons.

CAMBRIDGE European leaders are seriously considering a Tobin tax, which would put a small levy on financial transactions, thereby dampening trading.

Mr. Moftah Jassim Al Moftah (Qatar). Director, Income Tax Department, Ministry of Finance.

As a bonus, an FTT will curb destabilizing speculation in financial markets.

Recently, the IMF proposed a new global tax on financial institutions loosely in proportion to their size, as well as a tax on banks profits and bonuses.

Previous positions include head of the committee reviewing tax law Assistant to the Director, Income Tax Department and head of Income Tax Section, Financial Affairs Department.

A leading policymaker in the Anglo American empire of finance actually came out in support of a Tobin tax a global tax on financial transactions.

A tax on stock transactions encourages longer term holdings.

Nor would a Tobin tax stand in the way of financial markets punishing governments that grossly mismanage their economies.

Financial and maritime activities for revenue generation

As the IMF argues, if applied across the G 20, a Financial Activities Tax would help constrain the worst features of the financial system and reduce the competitive distortions created by the megabanks.

Existing proposals include a Robin Hood tax on financial transactions, a share of the profits from the EU s carbon emissions trading scheme, or a larger take from value added tax receipts.

Consider, for example, a tax of 0.25 applied to all cross border financial transactions.

The emotional appeal of a tax on all financial transactions is undeniable.

CAMBRIDGE European leaders are seriously considering a Tobin tax, which would put a small levy on financial transactions, thereby dampening trading. But will the tax do as much as its proponents hope?

But the most important part of the deal to avert the fiscal cliff was the restoration of the efficient payroll tax.

Another possibility is that the Europeans concluded that an FTT s political advantages outweigh its economic flaws.

These revenue losses could be offset by curtailing so called corporate tax expenditures deductions, credits, and other special tax provisions that subsidize some economic activities while penalizing others and broadening the corporate tax base.

The third aim could be achieved country by country, but it is certainly arguable that an across the board banking levy, or a Europe wide financial transaction tax, would eliminate competitive distortions.

An Inequality Tax

With this battle won, the next worthy goal is a global financial transaction tax.

What the Tobin tax does not do is help with longer term misalignments in financial markets.

But the FTT, despite its noble intellectual lineage, is no solution to Europe s problems or to the world s.

A Tobin tax does have benefits, even if it cannot address enough of the problems that afflict financial markets today.

When the Legislative Assembly met at the beginning of October 1849, Passy proposed an income tax to help balance the finances of France.

While it is well known that a Tobin tax would have little effect on markets unless all major financial centers adopted it, what is true of markets is not necessarily true of financial institutions.

Financial problems dictate, however, the success or failure in the implementation of some of these activities.

After all, there certainly is a case to be made that an FTT has so much gut level popular appeal that politically powerful financial interests could not block it.

The Corporate Tax Conundrum

2220 Stamp tax

2250 Statistical tax

A tax called a death tax is regarded very differently from a tax called an inheritance tax, even though the two are really identical.

Financial intelligence units can play a vital part in identifying financial activity that is potentially linked to terrorism.

Italy s armada of Guardia di Finanza boats would hardly forestall a massive exodus of wealth if Italians see a sizable wealth tax coming.

Section 18 of the Regulations deals with money laundering and in order to prevent such activities, financial institutions must implement measures such as

The Central Bank has an Information and Financial Analysis Unit which is mandated to adopt measures to combat the financial activities of international terrorism.

Moreover, a high corporate tax rate is an ineffective and costly tool for producing revenues, owing to innovative financial transactions and legal tax avoidance mechanisms.

The office coordinates all investment activities and decisions, the implementation of control procedures, investment committee functions and the financial statements of the Service.

The problem was not that these securities were ferociously traded (most were not, and thus were not the kind of security that a Tobin tax would hit hard), but rather that everyone in financial markets revalued them at the same time.

Mr. Talmon de Paula Freitas (Brazil). Fiscal inspector in charge of the negotiation of agreements to avoid double taxation, Ministry of Finance Secretariat of Federal Income Tax.

Previous positions include adviser responsible for the negotiation of trade agreements, Ministry of Finance Secretariat of Federal Income Tax and adviser, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce.

After that, members of the Council for Control of Financial Activities COAF, the Brazilian FIU, paid a visit to the rapporteur and to the Chairman of the Senate's Commission of Foreign Relations and National Defense.

T he tax multiplier is around minus 1.1....

Taxing the Israeli Occupation