The UK is turning its anger towards the EU as the EU is implementing a financial transaction tax. Chancellor George Osborne has threatened new legal action after his pre-emptive challenge was rejected last week.
As Osborne said at a meeting of EU finance ministers on Tuesday, “It’s not a tax on bankers, it’s a tax on jobs, on investment, on people’s pensions. That’s why the United Kingdom does not want to be a part of it.”
“If they seek to damage jobs and investment across the rest of Europe, then we are entitled to challenge that.”
Osborne is seething over the tax, as he explained, “We have a situation where 11 member states are working up their proposals, largely in secret and we get a piece of paper handed to us all saying ‘Oh this, by the way is what we’ve agreed.’”
The EU taxation commissioner, Algirdas Semeta, rejected Mr. Osborne’s threat of legal action. As he said,
“We should be clear that the ECJ rejected UK’s challenge on the FTT. This should pave the way for its adoption. We have already clearly presented our opinion that the proposal does not violate territoriality rules.”
Other countries, however, are stewing over the proposal and thinking about joining the UK. Sweden announced that it is closer to supporting the UK on their legal case and Luxembourg joined in the attack.
