![]() ![]() The 11 states planning to adopt an FTT should take their cue from France and allocate some revenues for development aid but crucially, they should avoid the French error of not prioritizing global education within that assistance. General Assembly in September of that year, French President Francois Hollande declared that France would also commit at least 10 percent of the tax’s revenues to development, citing Unitaid as inspiration and saying: “Let’s introduce this tax across the world and ensure that revenues go towards development.” The nation at the forefront of the FTT movement is France, which passed a 0.2 percent tax on financial transactions in 2012. An additional benefit cited by the tax’s supporters is it would place some constraints on the increasing volume of high-frequency trading that has at times threatened the stability of financial markets. The animating force behind the idea is to skim “excess” revenue from the financial sector to repair national budgets severely strained in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, thus holding financial institutions accountable for their role in causing the recession. markets, but as the group of nations that include the eurozone’s four biggest economies (Germany, France, Italy and Spain) begin to negotiate the tax’s rate and design, policymakers should consider the possibility of using even a small percentage of the revenues gained to provide a new source of development finance–money that can change the world. Such taxes may or may not eventually cross the ocean to U.S. ![]() On January 23, the European Union’s finance ministers unanimously endorsed Financial Transaction Taxes (FTT) by giving a green light to 11 eurozone countries to impose a coordinated tax on financial transactions – an act filled with potential not just for national budgets, but overseas development assistance as well. ![]()
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