AFME comment on legal challenge to EU financial transaction tax

19 April 2013

Chief executive Simon Lewis said: "This is a tax that will damage markets beyond the 11 states that are considering it, across Europe and also internationally. It will act as a brake on economic recovery by increasing costs to investors."

Simon Lewis, chief executive, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), said: “We welcome the decision to make a legal challenge to the proposed financial transaction tax amongst 11 EU Member States, under enhanced cooperation. All the evidence shows that the tax will have serious harmful economic effects in a number of ways: taxing securities will increase the cost of raising capital for Europe’s businesses and increase the cost of debt funding for both businesses and governments. In addition, taxing derivatives will have a negative impact on hedging transactions undertaken by the real economy in order to manage risk."

© AFME