The EU Commission’s Proposal for a Financial Transaction Tax

In September 2011 the EU Commission put forward a proposal for an EU-wide Financial Transaction Tax. This article assesses the proposal. It starts by looking at the design of the tax before moving on to the objectives it is meant to achieve. Two questions are asked in relation to each objective: (i) is the objective reasonable? (ii) is the FTT the most adequate tool to obtain it? The conclusions reached are that a case can be made for pursuing some objectives but not others, and the FTT is not the most adequate tool to obtain them.